Arsenal fans believe Arsène Wenger only wants to scrap the January transfer window because Alexis Sanchez could leave the club in the New Year.
Wenger was speaking on beIN Sports about how having a mid-season transfer window can affect players’ motivations. He said: “What’s happening now is that the transfer window is closed. September will be okay,” reports the Mirror.
“The players who are tapped up in October, they already start to think: ‘Where do I go in January?’ That’s not the way to be on board with the football club. We are here to entertain people.
“You can [only] do that with people who are on board together, with people who want to achieve something together. Not with people who, when things don’t go well, think: ‘Where can I go next?’.”
But most fans seem to think that what Wenger really wants is to stop Alexis being able to leave, or just minimise the amount of time he has to spend on transfers, since Arsenal supporters now mostly believe the manager doesn’t like to get involved in the market.
Cos Alexis will be off and he won't be able to find a replacement in Jan…
— Tom [Servo] Jones (@TomServoJones) September 5, 2017
Yes because all the other teams will buy players and when we don't we will be further down the table,just go will you Wenger
— digger (@anton38) September 5, 2017
So he doesn't have another reason to fail?
— Christian (@JShuttlesworthh) September 5, 2017
As for Wenger’s mention of tapping up, it’s a problem in the league most know about but few officials actually punish. For example, earlier in the summer, Southampton alleged that Liverpool were trying to tap up defender Virgil van Dijk, forcing the Reds to issue an apology.
The centre-back is still not back in the Saints’ first-team setup, so Southampton have essentially lost a player for at least a month or so thanks to the alleged contact by Liverpool.
Yet, other than choosing to send that apology, there has been no action taken against Liverpool. If tapping up really is so widespread, then the January transfer window does start to become more problematic.