Neymar's inherent super-transfer to Paris Saint-Germain is
"beyond calculation and rationality", Arsenal manager Wenger
said on Thursday.
Wenger said the €222
million deal was a consequence of what happens when "a country owns a
club".
"For me, it is the consequence of the ownership and that has completely
changed the whole landscape of football in the last 15 years," he said at the Emirates Stadium Conference.
"Once a country owns a club, everything is possible.
"It is very difficult to respect the financial fair play because
you can have different ways or different interests for a country to have
such a big player to represent a country.
Arsene Wenger said Qatar's use of football as a vessel for soft diplomacy meant
PSG's owners did not need to worry about whether the transfer
represents value for money.
"We are not in a period anymore where you think, in some places: 'If I
invest that, I will get that back.' We are beyond that," the Arsenal manager said.
"The number today involves a lot of passion, pride, public interest and you cannot rationalize that anymore."
"It also looks like the inflation is accelerating," he said.
"We crossed the €100 million line last year (when Paul Pogba joined
Manchester United from Juventus) and, only one year later, we're
crossing the 200 million line.
"When you think that Trevor Francis was the first £1 million player and
that looked unreasonable, it shows you how much distance and how far we
have come, how big football has become.
"It's beyond calculation and beyond rationality."
