Arsene Wenger expecting big changes in transfer market rules over next 12 months
The Arsenal boss has already suggested in recent weeks that Uefa's Financial Fair Play regulations should be overhauled, as he thinks they are too easy to bypass
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Your support makes all the difference.Arsene Wenger is predicting a major shake-up to the transfer market in the next year.
The Arsenal boss has already suggested in recent weeks that Uefa's Financial Fair Play regulations should be overhauled, as he thinks they are too easy to bypass.
Paris Saint-Germain more than doubled the world record transfer fee when they signed Neymar from Barcelona last month and Premier League spending in the summer window reached almost £1.5bn.
German chancellor Angela Merkel called for football's administrators to act on the spiralling fees earlier this month, and Wenger said that the rules regarding transfers should be tightened or scrapped altogether.
Asked if football would ever witness the death of the transfer fee, the Frenchman said: "Something will happen. It is for the first time that, politically, the German prime minister came out.
"I think politically something will happen in the next 12 months to regulate and limit the transfer amount.
"You have to go one of two ways - regulate it properly or leave it completely open. But you cannot be in between - that is where we are at the moment.
"That is only to the advantage of some clubs who can deal with rules in a legal way. The regulation has to be stricter and clearer, or open it completely: you can do what you want provided you can guarantee you have the money to pay.
"At the moment, we are a bit in between and that does not work."
Wenger is a firm believer that more and more of the world's top players will leave clubs for free at the end of their contracts as the selling teams will demand higher and higher fees.
Arsenal look set to lose Alexis Sanchez in such circumstances in 2018, with Mesut Ozil also in a similar position.
"With the amount of transfer levels and the expected amount of contracts the players want, you will have more and more players going into the final year of their contract," he added.
"You will be in a position where you either extend for money you cannot afford or you go into the final year of their contract.
"This season there were 107 players in the Premier League who got into the final year of their contract for the first time and you will see that more. The clubs want too much more for normal players.
"So what happens? The club cannot sell and doesn't extend the contract, so more and more players are going into the final year."
Arsenal have been criticised for the number of players entering the last year of their contracts but Wenger did admit that talks are likely in the coming weeks with Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck - who both have 18 months remaining on their respective deals.
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