Under fire: Arsene Wenger has been criticised by
Karl-Heinz Rummenigge
He claims the signing of Cesc Fabregas when he was just 15
in 2003 as the perfect illustration of his point.
Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge has
launched an unproved attack on Arsene Wenger and accused
the Arsenal boss
of signing too many young players which he describes as almost
'kidnapping'.
Wenger has brought several youngsters to the North London and
many of them have gone to become world class players. But
Rummenigge believes managers should not be allowed to cherry pick
the most promising players from around the world and has called for
it to be stopped.
He told Sport-Bild: 'One like Arsene Wenger signs hosts of
players from France and elsewhere year-in year-out. 'We have to
take care that this sort of child trafficking is stopped. This has
taken on a different scale in the meantime; the word kidnapping is
not too far off anymore.
'Fabregas is really the best example for this. He signed from
Barcelona at the age of 15 on a free transfer, just because he was
about to sign a contract at the age of 16.'