Arsene Wenger delivers worrying message to Real Madrid and admits Arsenal struggles

ARSENE WENGER has cooled suggestions Real Madrid could sign Neymar and Kylian Mbappe next summer - because PSG have the financial clout to keep the pair. Real Madrid have been linked with swoops for both Neymar and Mbappe in recent months.

Neymar was a £200m signing from Barcelona last summer, while PSG handed over £166m to Monaco this year to make Mbappe’s loan move permanent.

 

The pair have terrorised Ligue 1 defenders for over a year now but their star-studded reputations have caught the eye of Real.

Los Blancos are expected to move for one of the duo at the end of the season.

 

But former Arsenal manager Wenger reckons money talks and PSG - backed by the oil-rich state of Qatar - will not let Neymar nor Mbappe leave.

“When you have world class players, I made over 300 transfers in my life,” Wenger told BeIN Sports.

“When you have a good player it is always difficult to keep him.

“PSG have enough financial power to keep them.”

The mention of his struggles to keep good players is likely in reference to Wenger’s period of frugality at Arsenal, where they regularly lost their top stars in the transfer market.

The Gunners built their new Emirates Stadium in 2006 and in the following years Wenger saw the likes of Thierry Henry, Ashley Cole, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, Samir Nasri and Bacary Sagna exit the club.

As for PSG, global football has been dominated by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for the past decade, with the pair each winning five Ballon d’Ors.

 

However, Mbappe’s excellent World Cup with France and Neymar’s emergence as one of the planet’s best strikers means the Ballon d’Or may head elsewhere this winter.

 

PSG are desperate to win the Champions League this season and Neymar’s partnership with Mbappe is seen as key to securing that elusive European crown.

And Wenger was all praise for the attacking duo, who are soaring under manager Thomas Tuchel.

“World football has been dominated in the last 10 years by Ronaldo and Messi,” he said.

“We could say that in the next seven or eight years it could be Neymar and Mbappe.

“PSG have the luck to have these players, when you have that quality of players, you sit in the dressing room, Mbappe might not have a big game but he will be in at least three situations a match where he will be close to score, that is for sure.

“He did that for France at the World Cup. If you find him behind, he’s the only player who goes in behind the defenders.

“Neymar comes to feet, but Mbappe can go in behind. So once he’s in front of you, you can never catch him.”