Wenger worried about foreign owners

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admits he is concerned by the increasing trend of foreign ownership in Premiership clubs.

The Frenchman put out a first XI in the Champions League on Wednesday without a British player in the line-up.

He said: "This trend [for foreign ownership] does worry me. Generally you want the clubs to be in control of their own destiny. If you suddenly have 20 foreign investors who buy 20 English clubs you are in danger."

He added: "The manager is foreign, the players are foreign, you need to draw a line. England doesn't control it any more."

He added in Arsenal`s magazine, reproduced in the Daily Mirror: "I feel the soul of football in this country is first granted by the owners of the clubs. Here, for example, at Arsenal I feel I am really at an English club.

"Traditionally the people who owned the clubs were first and foremost supporters. If that ceases to be the case then the clubs lose something."