Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger Defends Pursuit Of Jon Toral From Barcelona
We did nothing wrong in chasing Toral, claims Wenger...Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes that the north London outfit did nothing wrong in their pursuit of Jon Toral from the Barcelona youth team.
The Premier League giants are set to complete the acquisition of the promising youngster for a fee reported to be in the range of ?350,000 by the Spanish media.
The 16-year-old was free to sign for any club and just as Arsenal had landed Cesc Fabregas from the Spanish champions under similar conditions, they moved in quickly for Toral.
However, Barcelona president Sandro Rosell isn't happy with the Gunners and described Arsenal's pursuit as "a little immoral" but Wenger claims that they did nothing wrong or illegal.
"You forget that this boy is English," said the Frenchman, according to the Independent. "He has an English passport, his mother is from England and hopefully he will join us in the summer."We have players who leave us for other professional clubs in England. We have done what just is legal.
"I love Barcelona, I love Catalonia - I have nothing against them, but
when a player who is half English and Spanish wants to join us, why should we turn him down if its all legal?"If we have done something illegal, I will say 'sorry, my boy, we cannot do it'. Plenty of players leave us under exactly the same rule."
Wenger refused to comment on Rosell's remark and simply stated, "I do not want to go further on that front because it is very difficult.
"If you go in the academy of Barcelona and you look where all the players come from, come back to me and we can talk about it."
