Arsene Wenger: Barcelona playing in the Premier League would be difficult

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has admitted that it would be difficult for English clubs, if Barcelona were to join the Premier League in the future.


Catalonia is currently pushing through its independence referendum from Spain, and Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu admitted this week that the Camp Nou outfit could end their association with La Liga.

In response to this, Wenger joked that he would ‘try to learn Catalan’ and said: “If Barcelona want to join the Premier League, it makes things even more difficult for everybody. I don’t think they have gotten as far as that. It is interesting and there will be incidents on the sporting side as Barcelona are a highly political club. I think it will be interesting to see how they respond in the championship. We have enough clubs here with 20 but if you want to go up to 24, we have to invite the Scottish clubs before we go for the Spanish.”

The English Football League has previously proposed including the likes of Rangers and Celtic in the English division, and SPFL chief Neil Doncaster admitted earlier in June that there is the prospect of the Old Firm playing in England.

Catalan-born star Gerard Pique has publicly supported the movement of late, and this has not gone well with the Spain fans, who presented him with a chorus of boos during a recent training session. Pique has already cited that he would quit international football with Spain if the country’s football association have any issues with him voting for independence.

Despite the unrest in Catalonia, Barcelona decided to play the La Liga game against Las Palmas in closed doors last weekend and they managed to overcome their early nervousness to secure a 3-0 triumph over the Gran Canaria outfit. They are currently atop of La Liga with 21 points, seven ahead of last season’s champions Real Madrid.