Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger aims thinly veiled shot at Chelsea over stockpiling and loaning out young players

The Gunners chief believes the current system means financial interests are prioritised over youth development, though his potential solution is bound to cause controversy

Arsene Wenger is unhappy with the current system regarding stockpiling young players

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has aimed a thinly veiled shot at Chelsea for their policy concerning young players.

The Blues have stockpiled young players in recent years and loaned them out at a prolific rate due to their route to the first team being blocked.

Wenger believes the issue is one of the game's most concerning issues and the Blues' method of acquiring young talent on mass is wrong.

"It is one of the big problems in the modern game," the Frenchman told Arsenal's official magazine. "You've invested a lot of money into players because we're paying more and more money.

"Then at the age of 20 you don't usually get much money for any of the players, so the reflex is to stockpile the players. That's not right.

"When you look at the number of loans that happen here and there, the whole system has to be thought about again because we have two kinds of solution in there."

Wenger believes there should be a cap on the number of players you can register and that a relationship could exist between third-tier and Premier League clubs.

"The first is to continue developing players, the second step is just to make sure your investment is safe – that's not the right way to think about it but it's the natural reflex for the clubs," Wenger added.

                                 

"Maybe you could create a possibility for some clubs to own part of a League One club as a feeder club. After that, a limitation on the number of players on your books could work.

"The way a youth team is organised now is that all the best young players go to the richest clubs, which is where they have fewer chances to develop, so you have to make sure the system shares out the best young players equally.

"It's difficult because the development of the players depends on the concentration of the good players. The more good players you have together, the more chance they have of becoming even better players."

[ Mirror ].