Wenger wants action on tapping up

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger believes the rules concerning the tapping up of players must be reviewed.

Wenger has watched as clubs have chased Arsenal’s Samir Nasri throughout the off-season, with Manchester United and Manchester City strongly linked to the France midfielder.

Although the rules say that clubs cannot speak to players without the permission of the clubs involved, Wenger feels that they are not respected.

When quizzed if he thought other clubs had tapped-up his players, Wenger offered this response: “I would like to return the question to you.”

“What do you think? We live in a realistic world. I do not want to assess what I cannot prove.”

“I know how things happen. It doesn’t necessarily go through the player or the agent but I think it is a rule that has to be reviewed. It’s not really respected.”

Wenger re-iterated that he did not want to lose Nasri and captain Cesc Fabregas, who has been linked with a return to Barcelona.

Wenger said any additions to the squad would be focused on quality, and that he would not add players for the sake of it.

“It’s not the number, it’s the quality,” he said.

“How many will leave the club? I said from the start I will fight to keep everybody. Nicklas Bendtner might go and Emmanuel Eboue might go. They can talk to clubs, but the rest I will fight.”

Wenger’s first addition to his squad was Lille striker Gervinho, who is said to have cost around 10 million pounds.

The new Arsenal striker bagged a brace against Cologne in a 2-1 friendly win on Saturday and Wenger was pleased with what he saw.

“You could see how quick he is to get behind defenders,” he said.

“He has qualities that are always very interesting for a team like us. I hope (he’ll be a bargain). When you see all the fees around you become dizzy.”

“We do what we want and we look first at the quality of the player and after if we have the money we spend it. In this case he wanted to join us. He had only one year on his contract, so it was a good opportunity for us.”