Arsene Wenger faced the media on Friday ahead of the Everton game. here are some extra quotes from his press conference. For more headlines, visit our Digest page.
on contracts for Cazorla and Ramsey…
Not yet, but we are very close. Very close. We will announce as soon as we are over the line.
on the timing of March internationals…
It is disruptive, nobody would deny that. Everton are facing the same problem, Bayern Munich are facing the same problem so we just want to deal as well as we can with it.
on a ‘week of football’ for Euro 2016…
They should play them in one week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, because as you have noticed in the next European Championship you will have 24 teams at a European tournament. You have 53 teams affiliated to Uefa. That means that one country out of two will qualify. The qualifiers will basically have no meaning for the big countries. The qualification round becomes a little bit less meaningful, not to say useless because all the big countries will be there.
on making teams reluctant to release players…
No, we will release the players. We respect the international rules when it is for qualifiers. The players' aspiration is to do well for their country and I personally respect that hugely. If you ask me if there is sometimes a conflict of interest between club and country, you know that. That is an old story and nobody have found a solution and many intelligent people have looked at it. Nobody has found a solution that satisfies all ways of both parties.
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