Won’t keep a player out for holding wrong passport, says Wenger India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

After being criticized for fielding Arsenal teams without a single Englishman in the squad, Gunners manager Arsene Wenger has said that he won’t discriminate a player in his squad for not holding a British passport, as it would only wreck the game. Wenger’s comments also follow UEFA chief Michel Platini suggestion to bring in rule changes to limit the number of foreigners in any team. His squad does have some Englishmen, but its more of mix of foreign players from France , Spain , Africa, Mexico , Belgium , Russia , Netherland , Switzerland , Czech Republic , Croatia , Brazil , Poland , Italy and Wales . “I don't want to end up one day, when I'm putting together the line-up, having to say, damn, he can't play for us, he holds the wrong passport. We don't even need a language in football in order to communicate,” The News of the World quoted Wenger, as saying. “I can let a boy from Alsace and a boy from South Africa play in one team. That's fantastic, isn't it? We should not allow football to be wrecked by artificial rules,” he added. Wenger further said that his refusal to splash big money on superstars is to continue his policy of investing in the youth, and emphasized that teenagers at Arsenal are provided a sound training in football. “People love our model, but they don't realise how much strength it takes to push it through against resistance - which also comes from within the club. It is a matter of allowing players to develop and to actually bring them into play,” Wenger said. “We now have Jack Wilshere , Aaron Ramsey and Carlos Vela ready. They are 17, 18 and 20 years old. They should not have to switch clubs in order to be able to play. In that case, all the work we put into them would have been wasted,” he added.