Arsene Wenger believes India could become a serious player in transfer market

01/20/2017

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has said that India could become a serious player in the football transfer market in the future but added that they should not expect immediate success. He has cited the example of Japan where professional football started back in 1993 but is still not that popular.

Chinese Super League has created havoc among the older and more professional teams of Europe by signing many giants. With huge money involved in the league, it has become a big player in the transfer market.

However, the Arsenal boss believes that it takes culture and work to be among the top echelons and thinks that India also could well achieve that in times to come.

He said, “It takes years of culture and work,” said Wenger. “You don't create a top league just like that. In England, it was created 150 years ago and we still struggle,” reported The Independent.

“It's a slow process of creating a football culture. You are educated as a little boy by your parents about football and that goes through the next generations. And that takes time to be a really big part of the population.

“In China it's new. So it will take time. We don't know in 10 years' time that China will still do it. Sometimes it's a political decision that can change. I expect India to come to the game and I hope it will happen,”

Arsene Wenger

In the early stages of his coaching career, Wenger managed Japanese club Grampus Eight, and English star Gary Lineker also played in the country during his final years as a player. But the J-League initiated in 1993 has failed to establish it on a global scale.

“I know it takes time well as I participated in Japan in 1995. The professional league was created in '93,” he said.

“It was the third year of professional football in Japan and you expect reflexes from people that are not there with the culture of professional football. So it will take time.”

Wenger also had a word for the footballers who opt to play in the Chinese Super League.