Wenger frustrated at Wright-Phillips saga

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed his bitter frustration at waiting on Chelsea to make their move for Shaun Wright-Phillips.

The Manchester City winger is a player Wenger has long admired and past speculation has linked Wright-Phillips with a switch to Highbury.

But it is almost certain the Frenchman and the Gunners will lose out as the club cannot compete with the financial muscle of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.

It would appear England international Wright-Phillips is destined to head to Stamford Bridge in a £20m (€29m) deal at some stage this summer.

There is no doubt Wenger would love to strengthen his own squad with a player of Wright-Phillips’ talent but finds himself dictated to by Chelsea – a familiar story for many clubs.

“I like Wright-Phillips very much, but we are in a transfer market where you first have to let Chelsea make decisions and then come in when they have made that decision,” said Wenger.

“That is because there is a price for Chelsea and a price for everybody else, and that is why we have to wait until they make a decision. It is very frustrating, but it is a fact.

“I don’t know what their budget is, but they were in for Steven Gerrard, but didn’t get him so they have to go somewhere else.”

Wenger was speaking at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone where he was a guest of Toyota, an alliance stretching back to his days in Japan when he coached Grampus Eight between 1995 and 1997 before joining Arsenal.

With regard the recent Gerrard saga, Wenger on that occasion was nothing more than an interested spectator as Chelsea seemed set to get the midfielder.

Gerrard, though, performed a dramatic U-turn last week and instead committed himself to Liverpool by signing a new four-year deal.

Wenger believes there can be no anxiety when it comes to trying to compete with Chelsea as he added: “At some stage it looked to me like he [Gerrard] would definitely move.

“His agent came out and said his relationship with Liverpool had broken down and there was no way they could re-start

“But I feel the driving force in changing his mind was Steven Gerrard himself.”

When asked whether he was relieved the deal fell through, Wenger replied: “Not really. I feel we have to cope with that and not feel we are behind, just fight with that.

“No matter who everybody else buys, no matter who Chelsea buys and who goes there, it is down to us to come back strong and fight for the championship.”