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Wenger - French league deserves respect

Arsene Wenger believes Ligue 1 should be taken more seriously.

Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco have been subject to multi-million pound takeovers over the last couple of years and have attracted big-name players like Edinson Cavani and Radamel Falcao.

Arsenal open their Champions League campaign away to Marseille on Wednesday and their manager thinks it is an exciting time for domestic French football.

"PSG and Monaco attract top-level world-class players... all the best French players go to the other clubs and that makes everybody stronger"

"In the French league you have PSG and Monaco who attract top-level world-class players," Wenger said. "That means all the best French players go to the other clubs and that makes everybody stronger."

Marseille finished runners-up behind PSG in the league last season but have added a number of attacking players to their team over the summer. Wenger expects them to provide his side with a difficult test.

"They bought [Dimitri] Payet who is a creative player. Then have [Andre-Pierre] Gignac - the centre forward for the French national team. The playmaker of the French team [Mathieu] Valbuena is there so they have good offensive potential.

"Florian Thauvin has just arrived there. He has been sold from Lille to Marseille. I think he played over the weekend but he's not completely physically ready yet."