Dragan Stojkovic claims he wants to turn Chinese Super League club, Guangzhou R&F, into a big club like Arsenal.

  • Stojkovic played under Wenger at Nagoya Grampus
  • Went on to manage the Japanese side himself
  • Took charge of Guangzhou R&F in August 2015
  • Wants to work with ‘secure budget framework’

Guangzhou R&F might only be six years old in June, but manager Stojkovic, who played under Arsene Wenger at Nagoya Grampus, has his heart set on making the Chinese club as big as Arsenal by running on a ‘secure budget framework’.

“With Wenger’s guidance, I played football,” Stojkovic, said in an interview in South Korea [via ESPN].

“Nagoya emphasised the importance of technical football and it was a time to learn about the philosophy of modern football.

“I want to have Guangzhou R&F playing beautiful football all the time, and at least so far, my efforts here have not been in vain.”

He added that he wants to “help make Guangzhou into a big club like Arsenal, run on a secure budgetary framework.

“Chinese football is developing quickly, and we want to be a part of that.”

With the amount of money currently surrounding the Chinese Super League, I don’t imagine that this budget will be too modest.

Stojkovic has been in charge of Guangzhou R&F for almost two years with his current contract set to run at the same time as Wenger’s.

While they finished sixth in the Chinese Super League last season, after seven games played this term, they’re level on points with Guangzhou Evergrande – last year’s champions.

Stojkovic says it would be a dream to win the title.