Arsene Wenger: 'Barcelona playing in Premier League an interesting idea'

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 02 October 2017

Wenger: 'Barca in PL an interesting idea'

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger acknowledges that Barcelona playing in the Premier League would make "things even more difficult" for his side.

Arsene Wenger has said that he would welcome the prospect of Barcelona joining the Premier League in the future, but admits that it will make his task at Arsenal a lot tougher.

The political uncertainty in Catalonia continues to rumble on following Sunday's independence referendum, which the local government put a stop to amid scenes of violence in the region.

Some have speculated that Barca could one day break away from La Liga as a result, but Wenger believes that teams from Scotland - namely Celtic and Rangers - should be invited first if the hypothetical situation ever comes to fruition.

"I'd try to learn Catalan!" he told reporters. "If Barcelona want to join the Premier League, it makes things even more difficult for everybody. But 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."

Barcelona played Sunday's fixture against Las Palmas at an empty Camp Nou in, as president Josep Maria Bartomeu put it, an act of defiance.