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Extra: Wenger on Rosicky and transfers

13/14: Arsenal 2-0 Tottenham Hotspur - Tomas Rosicky
Tomas Rosicky

Arsène Wenger faced the media ahead of the Premier League clash with Aston Villa. Here are some extra quotes from the boss. For the headlines, visit our Digest page:

on a winter World Cup...
It is common sense that the World Cup in Qatar can only be in winter. People always say ‘yes, we have air conditioned stadia’ but that is not the problem. The players are prepared to play at any temperature. I think just about people who go there, the fans. It is 50 degrees outside and you want people to walk outside and meet together outside in the street - if that is not possible you cannot organise a decent World Cup. So, common sense tells you since the start, it can only happen in winter.

on Tomas Rosicky...
Look, Tomas Rosicky will stay here at the end of the season. He is a marvellous player and contributes well to the team. He is certainly a typical Arsenal player in the way that he is mobile, technically sound and team orientates. So he is a fantastic football player.

on whether players will come out while still playing…
I [hope so] because I think we have a history in our football culture which is not very tolerant on that front and the next step is certainly for people still practising and playing to have the freedom to come out if they feel they want to do it. Maybe the best day is when you don't talk about it anymore, because that means it is absolutely accepted that everybody does what he wants.

on transfers...
The priority is to play well on Monday night with the players we have, and to win the game, that is our priority. After that, the priority for the media is to talk about the transfers but for me it is to talk about football. I do not want to speak about any specific names. For us it is important to prepare well for Monday night and to win the game on Monday night. The people who are in the newspapers do not help us to win the game on Monday night. It is the players who play here.

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