Liverpool midfielder Raheem Sterling’s agent has run into a bit of controversy over the last couple of days but Arsene Wenger insists he’s unphased by the drama.

Aidy Ward, Sterling’s agent, has been shooting his mouth off about the Liverpool man wanting to leave the Merseyside club. He’s been giving the media their soundbites, which they’ve – surprise surprise – ran with and put their own twist on.

However, despite rumours that the 20-year-old could be on his way to Arsenal, Wenger insists the media furore doesn’t interest him, although he does believe a level of class (i.e. silence) should be kept regarding transfer matters.

He said, “I don’t want to single out people but discretion is the best way to deal with things because once it goes public it is very difficult to master and you have so many opinions.

“I can understand the media is interested in that but for us it always adds difficulties once it’s public.”

The Arsenal’s boss’s indirect dig at agents, more specially, Sterling’s agent, is tangible.

Wenger is a manager who doesn’t like his transfer business splashed across the front pages until it’s 100% done. It’s not his style.

We all remember when he denied Santi Cazorla’s existence weeks before signing him. Therefore, it doesn’t surprise me in the least that he’d prefer the agent kept a lid on it, if we were to sign the Liverpool man.

He continued, “I’m not sure that it is the player who causes the problem. Most of the time it’s not the player who causes the problems. [The player and agent] come as a package, that’s true, but the problems do not always come from the player. Sometimes they come from the package.”

Finally, he added, “The agents are linked with the media many times and then their interest is to put the story public, and they do it. Even for the player, the best deals we have done have been when it is quiet, calm and secret.”