Raiola claims Arsenal lack the ‘balls’ to spend big money

Oli Fisher
Mino Raiola: Challenges Arsenal to spend

Super agent Mino Raiola has blasted Arsenal by suggesting that they lack the ‘balls’ to compete for top players, unlike Manchester United.

The Dutch-Italian, who’s clients include Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, suggested that Arsenal do not show enough confidence in players in an interview with the Daily Mail.

Arsenal fans have in the past criticised Arsene Wenger for failing to spend big money in order to boost the squad.

“It’s not just a case of spending the money,” Raiola said. “It’s shouldering the responsibility of spending that money and saying, ‘yes, this is my man’. Arsenal have the money but do they have the balls?

“I respect Arsene Wenger. He has a philosophy that says these figures don’t match what I want to do, so that’s OK. Real Madrid? The will of Zinedine Zidane was strong but we were not sure it was the will of the club.”

Raiola oversaw the deals sending Ibrahimovic, Mkhitaryan and Pogba to Old Trafford this summer, and believes this was a necessary statement of intent.

“Yet I think Manchester United showed the world this summer that they were not going to stand still, they want to be the best.

“They sent out a message with the transfers they did that this is the biggest club in the world.”