Wenger says Europe's 'big five' leagues 'being destroyed'

  /  Searlas

Competition in Europe's biggest leagues is being "destroyed" by clubs who have "huge financial power", says Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

Frenchman Wenger pointed to examples in France, Germany, England and Spain.

Paris St-Germain are 11 points clear in Ligue 1, Bayern Munich have a 16-point advantage in the Bundesliga and Manchester City are 15 points ahead at the top of the Premier League.

Wenger said it was clear that "unpredictability has gone down".

He added: "When you look at the five big leagues in Europe, in December we already knew four champions.

"That means something is not right in our game. The huge financial power of some clubs is basically destroying the competition."

In Spain, Barcelona have an 11-point lead over Atletico Madrid. Defending champions Real Madrid - suffering a surprisingly difficult season - are 19 points behind Barca in fourth place.

The other league that usually figures in Europe's 'top five' is Italy - where Napoli are a point ahead of Juventus, title winners in the past six seasons.

Frenchman Wenger was speaking two days after transfer spending in the Premier League again reached record levels.

Clubs in England's top flight spent £150m on Wednesday - the closing day of the winter transfer window - taking their outlay for the month to £430m.

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