Arsene Wenger has accused Manchester City of playing by ‘their own rules’, as he believes City’s new £400million naming rights deal with Etihad Airways makes a mockery of UEFA’s Financial Fair Play initiative.

The Man City deal, which dwarfs the 15-year, £100m contract Arsenal made with Emirates Airlines in 2006, would see Etihad Airways, owned by the Abu Dhabi government, create up to £40m in new revenue per season for City.

“It raises the real question about the credibility of the Financial Fair Play. That is what it is all about. (City) give us the message they can get around it by doing what we want. It means the Financial Fair Play will not come in. It is as simple as that. I can understand how they do it but it raises the real question – the difficulty and the credibility of Financial Fair Play is at stake.

Plus, normally the sponsorship has to be at the market price if the Financial Fair Play has to have a chance. It cannot be tripled or quadrupled because that means it is better we don’t do it and leave everybody free. That can be defended, but if they bring the rules in they have to be respected.”

City are currently some way off from meeting the UEFA Financial Fair Play criteria. In the year ending May 2010 the club made a loss of £121.3m, an increase of 31% over 2009, and the second highest loss in the Premier League history.

City’s next set of accounts due in October are likely to make even more worrying reading as they will have to factor in £160m of spending on new players. While City’s commercial revenues were up 400% in 2010, they are still only £32.4m, and are dwarfed by the £100m in commercial revenue that Manchester United is expected to make this year.

Главный тренер "Арсенала" Арсен Венгер намекнул, что нынешним летом не будет приобретать защитников, поскольку оборона не является ахиллесовой пятой его команды.
После того, как "канониры" в очередной раз не сумели ничего выиграть с 2005 года, многие болельщики и специалисты одной из главных проблем команды Венгера назвали оборонительную линию.

В прошлом сезоне "Арсенал" пропустил 43 гола в рамках Премьер-Лиги - на 10 больше, чем "Манчестер Сити" и "Челси". Однако Венгер, ранее летом сообщивший, что не планирует приобретать замену для ушедшего Гаэля Клиши, считает, что с обороной в его команде все в порядке.

Болельщики "Арсенала" ожидали, что летом Венгер подпишет по крайней мере пару центральных защитников. Пределом мечтаний фанатов были Гари Кэхилл из "Болтона" и Кристофер Самба из "Блэкберна". Впрочем тренер "канониров" уверен, что собранные в его команде игроки обороны не так уж и плохи.

"Я не думаю, что мы слабы в обороне - просто мы атакующая команда. Впечатление слабости обороны в нашем случае создается легче, чем с другими командами".

"Я убежден, что у нас уже есть классные защитники. Взять хотя бы Томаса Вермалена, который не играл год".

"В открытой игре мы были одной из лучших команд с точки зрения обороны в прошлом сезоне, но мы пропустили слишком много голов со стандартов, и над этим конечно стоит поработать", - цитирует Венгера Sky Sports.

Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna has highlighted the important role the club's youngsters - including fellow rightback Carl Jenkinson - will play in the coming season.

Jenkinson, 19, joined the Gunners from Charlton Athletic earlier this summer and made his Arsenal bow in the North London side's 4-0 win over a Malaysia XI on Wednesday.

The Harlow-born defender was one of a handful of youngster to play in the match, along with Ryo Miyaichi and Emmanuel Frimpong, and Sagna was quick to praise their efforts.

"They were excellent, I thought they played their own games, they weren't scared to play," Sagna told Arsenal's official website.

"They were full of confidence and that's good for the team. I hope they will push us because we need this kind of player."

Jenkinson will compete with Sagna for the right back spot in Arsene Wenger's first XI, but the Frenchman has welcomed the competition, and is looking to make the youngster feel welcome at the Emirates Stadium.

"I don't have anything to teach Carl, I just need to give him as much confidence as I can.

"We are all going the same way, we are all looking forward, and [Jenkinson being at Arsenal] is good for me because he will be an opponent [for the right back position] but a friend as well.

"I hope he will do well this season and I wish him all the best."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admits last season was the most difficult of his career but remains confident it is his squad's "destiny" to win the Barclays Premier League title.

Wenger's team lost the Carling Cup final to Birmingham in February and were then dumped out of the Champions League by Barcelona before slipping to fourth in the Premier League.

It all added up to a sixth straight trophyless campaign for the north London club, and Wenger found it a bitter pill to swallow.

"The last part was the toughest season in my career," he said.

"Emotionally, it was very difficult because we were on a low and then you could see the last three or four weeks were very difficult."

Wenger believes his young side will bounce back, though, and pick up their first piece of silverware since the 2005 FA Cup in the coming campaign.

Speaking in China, ahead of tomorrow's friendly against

Hangzhou Greentown on the club's pre-season tour of Asia, he added: "I believe that the real destiny of this team is now there.

"They know as well as I know that we were very, very close last season.

"You say, 'Okay, we missed our chance', or you say, in our position, 'Let's show everybody that we can do it and come back stronger' - which is what I think we can do because we are a young team and we can only be better.

"It demands the strength of character that the champions have. That's what we want to show."