Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has called for the transfer window to be closed throughout the season due to player unrest.

Wenger has experienced first hand how the transfer window can unsettle his players and prevent them from focusing on playing football. Against Liverpool, there were several players not entirely focused on the game as they were too busy thinking about leaving the club, I believe.

The Frenchman is now concerned that players will remain unfocused throughout the season, knowing that they could still leave in the January transfer window. He feels that the window should remain closed throughout the season so that the players can focus on their jobs.

“What’s happening is that the players now [with] the transfer window closed…September will be okay. The players who do not play or the players who are tapped up in October they already start again to think where do I go in January. That’s not a way to be on board with a football club. I believe we have to realise that,” Wenger told beIN Sports.

“We are here to entertain people and you can do that with people who are really on board together, to achieve something together and not every minute that it doesn’t go well to think ‘where can I go next?’

“I believe that we have to bring some decency [to the game]. We all complain today that it [football] has become too much [a] business, but we can do something about it. We have that responsibility in the game.

“You cannot have a player preparing for a football game, that is today vital because nobody accepts anymore to lost a football game, still at 4 o’clock on the phone [saying] ‘Do I go or not? How much is it? When do I have to go?’ It’s impossible.

“These boys are all under high pressure, well paid, you want them at least to have a normal preparation for a football game. The ideal situation would be to have a transfer period that is closed 48 hours before the first game of the championship and to close it completely until after the season.”

In fairness to Wenger, he has been calling for a change to the transfer window long before this summer. In fact, many managers would agree with the Gunners boss that the window should close before the season starts.

It’s ridiculous that teams can play three matches of a new season still not knowing who will stay because deals are dragging on. Arsenal will now have concerns about Alexis Sanchez, who could be thinking more about getting a move in January, rather than playing and doing his best for Arsenal.