Wenger praises Pogba

Arsene Wenger admits Paul Pogba’s transfer to Manchester United “ticks all the boxes”, but the Arsenal boss believes English clubs are forced to pay over the odds for players from abroad, Skysports reports.

Pogba completed his long-awaited transfer from Juventus to Old Trafford earlier this week for a world-record fee of £89m, which could potentially rise due to several add-on clauses.

And while Wenger admits United have captured one of the most sought after talents in world football, he believes the Manchester club may have paid too much for the French midfielder.

“The value of a player is dependent on his talent, the expected strengthening of the team, his age and of course his resale value,” Wenger said, speaking at the launch of the Premier League on Wednesday.“When you speak about Pogba, it ticks all these boxes – but we are in a system that we don’t master. We have to follow the prices paid by other people. That has gone up because the availability of money is much higher. That’s why we may have crossed the £100m bar for the first time.”

Wenger believes Pogba’s world-record transfer is a fair reflection of the current transfer market — where English clubs are forced to pay more for players than their European counterparts.

“It makes the market more unpredictable,” he said. “Where you could approximately value a player before, today the identity of a club that comes in for a transfer is more important than the rest.

“If you go to Spain and you’re an English club – straight away the inflation comes in. So I would say, in France the clubs, amongst themselves, are very reasonable. If an English club comes in, the price goes straight away up because they know there is money in England.”