Andrea Pirlo, on his 100th cap, opened the scoring with a picture-perfect free-kick, but Javier Hernandez levelled affairs from the penalty spot after he had been felled in the area by Andrea Barzagli.
But the Milan striker stole the headlines after a night that had seen him largely frustrated by Mexico goalkeeper Jose de Jesus Corona, latching on to Emanuele Giaccherini's pass before tucking home.
Stephan El Shaarawy was the only absentee for Italy, an ankle injury sidelining the Milan forward so Claudio Marchisio began in support of Balotelli. Mexico were forced into changes in their midfield as Giovani dos Santos and Javier Aquino replaced Pablo Barrera and Aldo de Nigris.
Italy began the game the stronger as Claudio Marchisio broke down the left wing before rolling the ball to Balotelli in the six-yard box, but Corona flung himself in front of the effort to deny the 23-year-old.
The UEFA Euro 2012 were not dominant, however, and Gianluigi Buffon was called into a stunning save from Andres Guardado as the Valencia winger caught Dos Santos' cut-back with a sweet effort, but the Italy captain did brilliantly to tip the ball onto the crossbar.
Cesare Prandelli's side did take the lead though, as Pirlo curled an unstoppable 25-yard free-kick into Corona's right-hand corner, and although the Mexico shot-stopper appeared to withdraw his hands from the save, he was well beaten.
However, the lead did not last long as Barzagli was robbed on the edge of the area by Dos Santos and, as the striker moved into the penalty area, bundled him over with referee Enrique Osses given little option but to award the spot-kick. Hernandez stepped up confidently and sent Buffon the wrong way to equalise and record his 33rd international goal.
After the break, neither side were able to create many clear-cut chances, but Riccardo Montolivo should have scored after Pirlo's low free-kick rebounded his way in the six-yard box, but the Milan player could only prod straight to Corona.
Italy's dominance of the match continued with Buffon a mere spectator in the second period and their pressure paid off with 12 minutes remaining as Balotelli secured the win.
The striker held off the challenge of Francisco Rodriguez on the edge of the penalty area to latch onto Giaccherini's flick, he beat two defenders to the ball and thundered a strike past Corona.
Prandelli's side saw out the game superbly and will take great confidence into their remaining Group A fixtures against Spain and Uruguay.
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Sunday, 16 June 2013
FIFA Confederations Cup: Mexico 1 Italy 2
FIFA Confederations Cup: Spain 2 Uruguay 1
The reigning World Cup and European champions were in complete control and won over local fans with their stylish football seeing them find the net twice in the first half through Pedro and Roberto Soldado. Though the crowd became frustrated at times, the Europeans took their foot off the gas but an exquisite Luis Suarez free-kick late on proved just a consolation.
Spain boss Vicente Del Bosque elected to start with Iker Casillas in goal for his side, despite the goalkeeper not appearing for Real Madrid since January. The 62-year-old also opted to begin with Soldado in attack and the Valencia man almost repaid his coach's faith within five minutes, however he was unable to turn Jordi Alba's cross in at the back post.
The Spaniards monopolised possession in the opening stages and a quick attacking injection in the 10th minute caught Uruguay off guard. Andres Iniesta's dummy let the ball roll through to his Barcelona team-mate Cesc Fabregas, who was denied a goal when his low shot crashed against the foot of the post.
Oscar Tabarez's men were struggling to cope with the crisp, interlinking passing of the Spaniards in the final third. It took two attempts for Fernando Muslera to keep out an effort from Iniesta after a lovely move at the top of the box.
It seemed an inevitability that Spain would find the net and that is precisely what happened in the 20th minute. Pedro's sublimely struck effort looked to be heading for the bottom corner but a deflection off Lugano made sure it found the net by redirecting it past the committed Muslera.
Uruguay began to rile their opponents and almost stole a goal through Edinson Cavani with a well-worked free-kick routine, but the World Cup holders re-asserted themselves by doubling their advantage soon after.
A tremendous disguised pass from Fabregas picked out Soldado with space to take a touch on the edge of the area before guiding the ball past Muslera confidently just after the half hour mark.
Spain's relentless pressing made it difficult for Uruguay to get any respite and it took a brilliant reflex save from their keeper in order to keep out Gerard Pique's header before the break.
After the interval it was more of the same from Spain, as Soldado and Iniesta both came close to adding their team's third but neither were able to pull a save from Muslera.
There was less urgency from Del Bosque's men in comparison to the first half but their incessant passing was stopping Suarez and Cavani from having any impact on the game. A tame volley from Pedro in the 64th minute that went wide of the post was their only subsequent effort.
They certainly paid the price as Suarez conjured up a moment of sheer magic when he bent an immensely-precise free kick inside Casillas' near post from in excess of 25 yards, but Spain held on in a nervy end to the game.
Victory ensures Spain go to the top of the Group B with three points but that could change depending on the result of tomorrow's fixture between the group's lesser lights Nigeria and Tahiti.
Spain boss Vicente Del Bosque elected to start with Iker Casillas in goal for his side, despite the goalkeeper not appearing for Real Madrid since January. The 62-year-old also opted to begin with Soldado in attack and the Valencia man almost repaid his coach's faith within five minutes, however he was unable to turn Jordi Alba's cross in at the back post.
The Spaniards monopolised possession in the opening stages and a quick attacking injection in the 10th minute caught Uruguay off guard. Andres Iniesta's dummy let the ball roll through to his Barcelona team-mate Cesc Fabregas, who was denied a goal when his low shot crashed against the foot of the post.
Oscar Tabarez's men were struggling to cope with the crisp, interlinking passing of the Spaniards in the final third. It took two attempts for Fernando Muslera to keep out an effort from Iniesta after a lovely move at the top of the box.
It seemed an inevitability that Spain would find the net and that is precisely what happened in the 20th minute. Pedro's sublimely struck effort looked to be heading for the bottom corner but a deflection off Lugano made sure it found the net by redirecting it past the committed Muslera.
Uruguay began to rile their opponents and almost stole a goal through Edinson Cavani with a well-worked free-kick routine, but the World Cup holders re-asserted themselves by doubling their advantage soon after.
A tremendous disguised pass from Fabregas picked out Soldado with space to take a touch on the edge of the area before guiding the ball past Muslera confidently just after the half hour mark.
Spain's relentless pressing made it difficult for Uruguay to get any respite and it took a brilliant reflex save from their keeper in order to keep out Gerard Pique's header before the break.
After the interval it was more of the same from Spain, as Soldado and Iniesta both came close to adding their team's third but neither were able to pull a save from Muslera.
There was less urgency from Del Bosque's men in comparison to the first half but their incessant passing was stopping Suarez and Cavani from having any impact on the game. A tame volley from Pedro in the 64th minute that went wide of the post was their only subsequent effort.
They certainly paid the price as Suarez conjured up a moment of sheer magic when he bent an immensely-precise free kick inside Casillas' near post from in excess of 25 yards, but Spain held on in a nervy end to the game.
Victory ensures Spain go to the top of the Group B with three points but that could change depending on the result of tomorrow's fixture between the group's lesser lights Nigeria and Tahiti.
Friday, 7 June 2013
Liverpool plan £150m Anfield expansion
Liverpool are set to take a major step closer to a £150 million redevelopment of Anfield by submitting a planning application before the start of next season.
GettyImagesAnfield currently has the sixth-highest capacity among Premier League grounds
Managing director Ian Ayre has confirmed that plans are on course for the rebuilding programme, which would see the Main Stand and Anfield Road End expanded, increasing the capacity to around 60,000.
That would potentially make the ground the second biggest in the top flight, behind the 76,000-capacity Old Trafford. Arsenal's Emirates Stadium is currently the next largest, as it can hold just over 60,000 fans.
The plans come soon after reports emerged that Manchester City are planning to increase the size of their Etihad Stadium to house as many as 54,000 fans.
Last October, Liverpool announced that they planned to stay at Anfield rather than pushing ahead with proposals for a new stadium in neighbouring Stanley Park, seeking to expand their current ground's 45,000 capacity.
But the expansion, going ahead in partnership with Liverpool City Council and social housing developer Your Housing, requires the purchase and demolition of homes that back on to the ground.
Ayre has indicated that negotiations to buy the last few of the 90 houses that need to be demolished are almost complete.
"We are in an interesting period in terms of our aspirations around the stadium," he told the Liverpool Echo. "Our goal is to extend Anfield. But we need certainty, and that comes with the acquisition of properties.
"Real progress has been made in acquiring them. Once they have all been acquired, we will go through the planning process.
"We would expect to be in a position to make that a certainty this summer. Once planning has been achieved, then we can start construction."
Ayre has indicated that the club need to expand Anfield to increase revenue and allow them to compete financially with the Premier League's top teams.
"There are three core revenue streams - media, commercial and matchday," he added.
"Our media and commercial revenues are very impressive, but where we fall behind is our matchday revenues. Having a bigger stadium and playing in the Champions League are two mechanisms which would dramatically change our fortunes.
"We're determined to press on with the stadium solution. It's in the hands of other people, but hopefully we will get there and deliver what our fans want."
Robben: I have no plans to leave Bayern
Champions League final hero Arjen Robben has said he has no plans to leave Bayern Munich – but added that he would never forget being barracked by fans after missing crucial penalties in the club's heartbreaking 2011-12 season.
GettyImagesArjen Robben's goal won the Champions League for Bayern
Robben, 29, scored Bayern's 89th-minute winner against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley last month, wiping out the memory of the penalty he missed as the Bavarians lost the trophy to Chelsea on their own ground a year earlier.
He had also missed a spot-kick in the Bundesliga game at Dortmund in that campaign, all but sealing that club's second successive Bundesliga title.
That led to some Bayern fans giving him a tough time, and he told Bild: "I don't want to, and will never, forget that. That was bad, it hit me hard.
"There were also many who supported me. But those who whistled me... they are not real fans to me. As a real fan, you stick by your team and its players in good and in bad times."
But regardless of those bad memories, and despite transfer speculation, the Netherlands international stressed that he had no plans to leave Munich.
"I say it like it is in football," he said. "Nothing is certain - this is a business in which everything can happen all the time.
"But I feel great here, and have a contract until 2015. My plan is to stay here."
During an injury-hit first half of the season, reports in the German media had suggested he could opt to retire from the game.
But he said: "I never really considered it. When you are injured again and again, when you work hard but your body just doesn't function, of course you will think: 'Why do I still do it?'
"But, in the end, the love for the game is bigger and you keep on fighting."
The anatomy of transfers
Football transfers usually follow a simple pattern.
Big club wants smaller club's player. Player wants to join bigger club. Smaller club will only let player go for a premium. Said premium is argued over. Player eventually joins bigger club after agreeing wages.
There is a flipside. Eventually, a big club might not want a player. Smaller club makes offer. Said offer is argued over. Player eventually joins smaller club after agreeing wages.
That’s how footballers switch clubs. There is such a thing as a free transfer, too - but they follow a very similar pattern, except that this time it’s just an argument between the player and his representatives with the prospective new club over wages.
Yet we live in an age in which the football transfer has become an utterly dominant narrative. The absence of a truly major tournament makes this a transfer summer. Odd-numbered years are those when speculation leads the agenda. Most of the big transfers of recent years have taken place in them. Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka joined Real Madrid in 2009, the same summer that saw Barcelona pay silly money for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Time might prove that they were a waste of time and effort, but the Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez sagas ran the length of the summer of 2011. This ‘close season’ will be no exception.
In English days gone by, football would shut up for the summer. Cricket would take over what few newspaper pages were assigned to sport. Wimbledon fortnight provided a moratorium, too, but there’s no such luck these days for those who want to think about football only when the Community Shield comes around.
Transfers dominate right up until August 31 and even manage to overshadow the opening weeks of the season as the build-up to the all-night party that is Transfer Deadline Day intensifies. There are those who enjoy transfers even more than the football itself. An entire industry has sprung up and a series of familiar tropes has appeared.
The ‘wantaway’ star
Luis Suarez provides this summer’s example, though of course the media is wholly to blame for his wanting to join Real Madrid and not continue to carry Liverpool’s rather distant hopes of revisiting the Champions League. It usually takes quite a lot for a player to admit he wants to leave his club. He will always take care not to blame the fans, who will probably hate him for daring to desert them.
GettyImages
Luis Suarez has made his transfer intentions clear, much to the dismay of Liverpool fans
Loyalty bonuses built into contracts usually delay the putting in of transfer requests, and managers often act publicly surprised when their players finally ask to leave. Arsene Wenger is the master of this. He kept saying Cesc, Samir Nasri and Robin Van Persie would stay. Sir Alex Ferguson, famously, refused to sell Real Madrid a virus and then flogged them Ronaldo for £80 million. ‘Wantaway’ stars eventually get their wish.
The rolling news channel
On TV, the big news is embedded in a yellow ticker, always given the ‘BREAKING NEWS’ prefix before the legend of Nicky Shorey’s big move is revealed. The newsreader, be they a clean-cut, squash-playing type, a greying but ever-elated veteran hype machine or a painted Amazonian beauty squeezed into a summer dress, reads out the telling information with the gravitas of Walter Cronkite on the night of November 22, 1963.
As stories grow, a reporter is dispatched to stand outside a training ground or stadium that has been shut down for the summer. They then proceed to read out statements from that club’s website. On Deadline Day evening, the ladies and gentlemen in the field wear branded jackets and are surrounded by inebriated fans with nothing better to do than cheer the signing of Dean Whitehead. We then build up to a crescendo and are told that “anything can happen” - when actually all that is happening is that some footballers are changing football clubs.
The transfer specialist
While many football reporters are taking a break from a season of late-night filing and being whipped by the elements and are trying to lose the poundage gained from nine months of club hospitality, now is the time when the transfer specialist kicks into gear.
He or she - mostly he, let’s be honest - has a rolodex full of numbers for agents and club insiders, and thus launches a seasonal campaign of rumour and counter-rumour. Contrary to popular perception, a high proportion of stories do have a grain of truth to them, but too often a mere grain is enough for a back-page splash. There are papers to be sold, hits to chase.
Phone a club chairman and ask them if they want to sign a Brazilian star, and be told they do not, and a story is there to be written. “XXXX last night distanced themselves...” and so on. Being a transfer expert is not for the thin-skinned. You have to prepare to be wrong over 50% of the time but, if you pull in a big one, your editor is very happy indeed.
The Twitter blowhard
Once Twitter went mainstream some time in 2010, a new seam of information was there to be mined. In the past, desperate fans used to call premium rate phonelines or pump names into news aggregator sites, but now the world of 140-character assassination is the real home of transfer talk.
Transfer-specialist sites and Twitter feeds are widespread
What a Twitter user wants most of all is followers and attention. Football transfers are the quickest route to getting Sulia to earn you a whole £2 a day. Twitter transfer ‘experts’ rarely use their given name, instead hiding behind alter ego and cartoon avatar. That’s because, with a couple of exceptions, they are generating either second-hand news or a complete load of trumpery moonshine with absolutely no relation to the concept of truth. And then there are those who just copy their ‘scoops’ from a foreign TV station, website or newspaper, using bilingual skills to gain recognition, and eventually notoriety.
The agent
Who loves the transfer window even more than all of the above? Football agents, of course. Unless an agent represents a player at the very top of the game, with the attendant big wages and endorsements, the easiest way to make money from their clients is to have them regularly change clubs. Percentages of signing-on fees and loyalty bonuses can be very lucrative indeed.
PA Photos
Jorge Mendes, who represents the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Falcao, is arguably the most powerful agent in world football
Agents have a habit of inserting themselves where money is going to be spent. Kia Joorabchian has been agent in residence at West Ham United, Manchester City and QPR - though not at Stoke, if public pronouncements are to be believed. The glut of spending at Monaco will be lining the pockets of Jorge Mendes, who just happens to represent most of the stars heading for a tax-free life in the principality.
These days, leading players do not restrict themselves to one agent. Robert Lewandowski seems to have several, stretching across different countries. And spending cash with agents is no pathway to success either. Manchester City spent £10.54 million on them in 2012 and failed to defend their title, with Liverpool shelling out £8.6 million to finish seventh. QPR spent £6.82 million. How did that go?
Big club wants smaller club's player. Player wants to join bigger club. Smaller club will only let player go for a premium. Said premium is argued over. Player eventually joins bigger club after agreeing wages.
There is a flipside. Eventually, a big club might not want a player. Smaller club makes offer. Said offer is argued over. Player eventually joins smaller club after agreeing wages.
That’s how footballers switch clubs. There is such a thing as a free transfer, too - but they follow a very similar pattern, except that this time it’s just an argument between the player and his representatives with the prospective new club over wages.
Yet we live in an age in which the football transfer has become an utterly dominant narrative. The absence of a truly major tournament makes this a transfer summer. Odd-numbered years are those when speculation leads the agenda. Most of the big transfers of recent years have taken place in them. Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka joined Real Madrid in 2009, the same summer that saw Barcelona pay silly money for Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Time might prove that they were a waste of time and effort, but the Cesc Fabregas and Alexis Sanchez sagas ran the length of the summer of 2011. This ‘close season’ will be no exception.
In English days gone by, football would shut up for the summer. Cricket would take over what few newspaper pages were assigned to sport. Wimbledon fortnight provided a moratorium, too, but there’s no such luck these days for those who want to think about football only when the Community Shield comes around.
Transfers dominate right up until August 31 and even manage to overshadow the opening weeks of the season as the build-up to the all-night party that is Transfer Deadline Day intensifies. There are those who enjoy transfers even more than the football itself. An entire industry has sprung up and a series of familiar tropes has appeared.
The ‘wantaway’ star
Luis Suarez provides this summer’s example, though of course the media is wholly to blame for his wanting to join Real Madrid and not continue to carry Liverpool’s rather distant hopes of revisiting the Champions League. It usually takes quite a lot for a player to admit he wants to leave his club. He will always take care not to blame the fans, who will probably hate him for daring to desert them.
GettyImages
Luis Suarez has made his transfer intentions clear, much to the dismay of Liverpool fans
Loyalty bonuses built into contracts usually delay the putting in of transfer requests, and managers often act publicly surprised when their players finally ask to leave. Arsene Wenger is the master of this. He kept saying Cesc, Samir Nasri and Robin Van Persie would stay. Sir Alex Ferguson, famously, refused to sell Real Madrid a virus and then flogged them Ronaldo for £80 million. ‘Wantaway’ stars eventually get their wish.
The rolling news channel
On TV, the big news is embedded in a yellow ticker, always given the ‘BREAKING NEWS’ prefix before the legend of Nicky Shorey’s big move is revealed. The newsreader, be they a clean-cut, squash-playing type, a greying but ever-elated veteran hype machine or a painted Amazonian beauty squeezed into a summer dress, reads out the telling information with the gravitas of Walter Cronkite on the night of November 22, 1963.
As stories grow, a reporter is dispatched to stand outside a training ground or stadium that has been shut down for the summer. They then proceed to read out statements from that club’s website. On Deadline Day evening, the ladies and gentlemen in the field wear branded jackets and are surrounded by inebriated fans with nothing better to do than cheer the signing of Dean Whitehead. We then build up to a crescendo and are told that “anything can happen” - when actually all that is happening is that some footballers are changing football clubs.
The transfer specialist
While many football reporters are taking a break from a season of late-night filing and being whipped by the elements and are trying to lose the poundage gained from nine months of club hospitality, now is the time when the transfer specialist kicks into gear.
He or she - mostly he, let’s be honest - has a rolodex full of numbers for agents and club insiders, and thus launches a seasonal campaign of rumour and counter-rumour. Contrary to popular perception, a high proportion of stories do have a grain of truth to them, but too often a mere grain is enough for a back-page splash. There are papers to be sold, hits to chase.
Phone a club chairman and ask them if they want to sign a Brazilian star, and be told they do not, and a story is there to be written. “XXXX last night distanced themselves...” and so on. Being a transfer expert is not for the thin-skinned. You have to prepare to be wrong over 50% of the time but, if you pull in a big one, your editor is very happy indeed.
The Twitter blowhard
Once Twitter went mainstream some time in 2010, a new seam of information was there to be mined. In the past, desperate fans used to call premium rate phonelines or pump names into news aggregator sites, but now the world of 140-character assassination is the real home of transfer talk.
Transfer-specialist sites and Twitter feeds are widespread
What a Twitter user wants most of all is followers and attention. Football transfers are the quickest route to getting Sulia to earn you a whole £2 a day. Twitter transfer ‘experts’ rarely use their given name, instead hiding behind alter ego and cartoon avatar. That’s because, with a couple of exceptions, they are generating either second-hand news or a complete load of trumpery moonshine with absolutely no relation to the concept of truth. And then there are those who just copy their ‘scoops’ from a foreign TV station, website or newspaper, using bilingual skills to gain recognition, and eventually notoriety.
The agent
Who loves the transfer window even more than all of the above? Football agents, of course. Unless an agent represents a player at the very top of the game, with the attendant big wages and endorsements, the easiest way to make money from their clients is to have them regularly change clubs. Percentages of signing-on fees and loyalty bonuses can be very lucrative indeed.
PA Photos
Jorge Mendes, who represents the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Falcao, is arguably the most powerful agent in world football
Agents have a habit of inserting themselves where money is going to be spent. Kia Joorabchian has been agent in residence at West Ham United, Manchester City and QPR - though not at Stoke, if public pronouncements are to be believed. The glut of spending at Monaco will be lining the pockets of Jorge Mendes, who just happens to represent most of the stars heading for a tax-free life in the principality.
These days, leading players do not restrict themselves to one agent. Robert Lewandowski seems to have several, stretching across different countries. And spending cash with agents is no pathway to success either. Manchester City spent £10.54 million on them in 2012 and failed to defend their title, with Liverpool shelling out £8.6 million to finish seventh. QPR spent £6.82 million. How did that go?
Thursday, 6 June 2013
Ribery and Van Buyten sign new deals
Bayern Munich have announced that Franck Ribery and Daniel van Buyten have extended their contracts until 2017 and 2014 respectively.
GettyImagesDaniel van Buyten and Franck Ribery celebrate Bayern's DFB-Pokal sucess
Ribery, 30, played a leading role for Bayern as they clinched the Bundesliga, Champions League and DFB-Pokal last season, and he has agreed to extend his existing deal by two years.
"I am delighted to stay in Munich," the France winger said, in Bavarian tongue. "I promised the fans, and now I have put pen to paper.
"For my family and me, FC Bayern has become a second home, and I am convinced that there will be trophies to win and defend for this team during the next couple of years."
Belgium centre-back Van Buyten, 35, also agreed to stay on for a further year.
"We all know what we have here," Van Buyten said. "Right now there is no better, no more solid and, most of all, no more successful club. I am delighted to be able to help the club defend our titles next season."
Bayern chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge expressed his delight at keeping "two key players" at the Allianz Arena.
"Franck and Daniel achieved outstanding things last season," he added. "We were able to rely on them at all times and, especially in the most important games, they have often made the difference."
Meanwhile, reports suggesting attacker Mario Gomez, 27, will be leaving the club have grown stronger.
Gomez's agent, Uli Ferber, told kicker that the striker intends to move on and that he had informed Rummenigge of his plans on Wednesday.
However, he added: "We have definitely not made a decision about a new club."
Gazidis sure of Wenger commitment
Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis said he believes that Arsene Wenger is committed to the club "for the long term" but could not offer any firm update on the manager's status beyond the end of next season.
GettyImagesIvan Gazidis believes Arsenal is an attractive proposition to potential players
Wenger has been strongly linked with a move to succeed Carlo Ancelotti at Paris Saint-Germain in recent months, with suggestions that he may be tempted to make the move to the French capital when his Arsenal deal expires at the end of next season being floated in recent days.
Gazidis told journalists from the boardroom of Highbury House that he believes Wenger is still 'excited' by the club's potential, but was unable to confirm the club's most successful manager will continue beyond 2014.
"I really don't want to have a public discussion about Arsene's contractual position," Gazidis was quoted by the Evening Standard as saying. "That would be a daily, weekly fixture on the public coverage if you start getting into that.
"I don't even want to say [we have discussed a new contract]. What I will say is that we think we have got a fantastic manager. We have got a lot of confidence that Arsene is the right person to take the club forward and I think he will want to do that. We hope that he wants to do what he is doing for the long term. I believe he does.
"I think he is still ambitious, still driven and sees the potential of the club as he looks forward and I think he is very excited by that. We have a great relationship and he has a great relationship with the board as well.
"This is going to happen very quietly behind closed doors, privately and then there will be an announcement when things are all put in place."
Gazidis moved to dismiss suggestions that the uncertainty over Wenger's future would affect the club's ability to sign top players in the transfer market in the coming months, as he claimed the stability at the club is one of the chief selling points for potential new arrivals.
"If you are asking me, is (Wenger's future) an issue with players, the answer is 'no'," he said. "It is far more an issue with players signing at other clubs than it is at Arsenal. If players have that on their issue list, I think that's a mark in our favour, not against us.
"I think players that are concerned about uncertainty probably think about Arsenal as the most certain place they could be in the world of football. So if it's consistency players are looking for, I think Arsenal would be a very attractive place to come.
"This is a club that has had remarkable consistency in terms of its manager, its football philosophy, its direction and the consistent support from the board and our principal owner for our manager is pretty much unmatched, through some difficult periods as well."
Gazidis went on to suggest that what he describes as a relatively slow start to the summer transfer scramble amongst Premier League clubs was due to the numerous managerial changes at top-flight clubs and would not be drawn on Arsenal's possible summer targets.
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