BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | A | Arsenal | Wenger transfer policy under fire
Ex-Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit believes Gunners boss Arsene Wenger should rethink his transfer policy.
Without a trophy since 2005, Arsenal have lost players like Mathieu Flamini because of a strict wage structure.
"It's a relationship on the pitch and you have to spend money to keep it," Petit told BBC Sport.
"You don't have to go out and spend money when you've got the players already, but you need to show the players that you want them to stay."
Arsenal are in the semi-finals of the Champions League and the FA Cup, but Wenger's side have been unable to sustain a challenge for the Premier League this season and have not a won a trophy since they beat Manchester United on penalties in the FA Cup final four years ago.
Petit attributes that failure to the loss of key players like Flamini, who went to AC Milan on a free transfer last summer, while Alexander Hleb was sold to Barcelona in a £11.8m switch.
"After the departure of Flamini, at the beginning of the season Cesc Fabregas was like an orphan. He was looking everywhere for Flamini but he was at Milan," said Petit, speaking ahead of Arsenal's FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday.
Bit of a nothing story, but the bold made me giggle.
Ex-Arsenal midfielder Emmanuel Petit believes Gunners boss Arsene Wenger should rethink his transfer policy.
Without a trophy since 2005, Arsenal have lost players like Mathieu Flamini because of a strict wage structure.
"It's a relationship on the pitch and you have to spend money to keep it," Petit told BBC Sport.
"You don't have to go out and spend money when you've got the players already, but you need to show the players that you want them to stay."
Arsenal are in the semi-finals of the Champions League and the FA Cup, but Wenger's side have been unable to sustain a challenge for the Premier League this season and have not a won a trophy since they beat Manchester United on penalties in the FA Cup final four years ago.
Petit attributes that failure to the loss of key players like Flamini, who went to AC Milan on a free transfer last summer, while Alexander Hleb was sold to Barcelona in a £11.8m switch.
"After the departure of Flamini, at the beginning of the season Cesc Fabregas was like an orphan. He was looking everywhere for Flamini but he was at Milan," said Petit, speaking ahead of Arsenal's FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea at Wembley on Saturday.
Bit of a nothing story, but the bold made me giggle.
