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On Thursday, when asked by the Daily Mirror about his opinion on Emmanuel Adebayor’s loan spell at Tottenham, Arsene Wenger gave a curiously unusual response:

“Personally, I would not (just) ban players on loan from playing against their own clubs. What I would like to see in the Premier League is that you are not allowed to loan players over the age of 21.”

Elaborating to explain his logic, Wenger continued:

“For example, if a big club sends a big player to another club in the Premier League on loan, they only have benefits. That player cannot face his own club, yet he could win games against their rivals.”

Sure, sending a big player on loan to another club could potentially benefit the parent club in the long run. But to say they only benefit from the loan makes no sense. Why would a club loan that player in the first place then?

Of course, the beautiful irony of Arsene Wenger’s suggestion is that Arsenal would be the biggest violators of the rule, which the the reporter quickly pointed out as he asked Wenger about Arsenal’s loan signing of Yossi Benayoun from Chelsea.

Wenger, caught off guard, hurriedly responded:

But we were on the last day of the transfer window. We knew that Jack Wilshere would need surgery. So we were short in midfield at that point and to find two players so late was nearly impossible for us without using a loan. At that time, the most important thing was just to sign him.

So it’s not OK to loan players over the age of 21, unless it’s the last day of the transfer window and you need to replace a key midfielder who needs surgery?

Hmm, seems like you’re twisting the rules to suit your needs just a bit there, Wenger.

In addition to the loaning of Yossi Benayoun, the loaning of Thierry Henry flies in the face of Wenger’s “only-under-21″ loan suggestion. 

The Frenchman was brought in on Jan. 6, 2012, at the start of the transfer window, and he was brought in for his ability rather than as a depth signing, since Wenger already had Park Chu-Young and Maraoune Chamakh as backups to Robin Van Persie on the depth chart.

And that’s not even mentioning the fact that Arsenal are currently loaning out Carlos Vela, Denilson, Nicklas Bendtner and Manuel Almunia, all over 21.

Arsene Wenger tends to make many enemies these days. He’s already taken aim at the rich clubs of the world by claiming that football cannot continue to be funded by billionaires while clubs report record financial losses and anticipating that a financial crisis will engulf Europe in due time. 

That’s all fine and good, and I’m all for using good business practice to take your club and team to the top.

But if you’re going to criticize the teams who are doing business the wrong way, don’t criticize the teams that are doing business the right way too.

Don’t criticize the teams that are working to secure the best possible bargain and are trying to secure the best possible talents for the cheapest price so that they can keep up a positive balance.

Because honestly, things are hard enough as it is for the less-wealthy clubs like Arsenal, Tottenham, Borussia Dortmund and others without them taking potshots at each other.

Focus on the more important things, Mr. Wenger, like how you plan to qualify for the Champions League and avoid “disaster” with a squad that has hardly looked Champions League-worthy all season long.

Focus on how you’re going to get rid of the numerous dead-weight players in your squad, like Chamakh and Andrei Arshavin, and how you’re going to make up for your tactical screw-up against Manchester United this past week.

Focus on how you plan on turning one of the most leaky defenses in recent Arsenal history into a reliable one and how you plan to turn Arsenal’s offense from the one-man Robin Van Persie show into an offense with multiple scoring threats.

Because that’s what Arsenal fans and EPL fans want to hear, not excuses about why every other team in the world is breaking your imaginary rules.

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