'We could have a European league in 10 years'

It took longer than expected but, eventually, it arrived.

It's the question which is always asked when a Scottish team prepares
to face an English team in European competition: should the SPL's Old
Firm be allowed to cross the border and join the Premier League?

It's a thorny issue and usually provokes a guarded response. But Arsène
Wenger broke new ground when the question was put to him in Glasgow
ahead of Arsenal's Champions League qualifier at Parkhead.

The Frenchman cannot envisage Celtic and Rangers joining the English
top flight but he can see the Scottish giants taking part in an
European League somewhere down the line. Wenger would prefer to
maintain the status quo but he believes the financial demands of
football could usher in a new continental competition.

"I see more a European league developing with the teams rather than one
or two teams going out of the country," explained the Arsenal manager.
"I believe the national leagues will survive but maybe in 10 years
we’ll have a European League.

"The way we are going now financially is that even the money coming in
from the Champions League, for some clubs, they spend so much money
that it would not be enough anymore. The income is basically owned, the
whole organisation is Uefa and they distribute the money to the clubs.

"I am not 100 per cent that I am right but I see and feel inside our
game that there are some voices behind the scenes coming up to do
something about that. Especially if the rules become too restrictive
for the big clubs."

If Wenger is proved right, how would a European League co-exist with
the domestic competitions which are the life-blood of countries all
across the continent? The Frenchman believes that the elite clubs would
need two teams in order to cope with their fixture commitments.

"It depends – if a European league is created is there a transfer from
the national league to the European league or is it a franchise
European league?" pondered Wenger. "This is the question that needs to
be answered.

"I personally believe only in sporting merit, so if one day a European
League is created it has to be a transfer up and down. But that would
be practically very difficult to resolve.

"If you do not want to kill the national leagues, these teams would
have to pay nationally and in Europe. That means the European league
would take place midweek and the national league would continue over
the weekend. That would mean these teams would have two teams
basically."