Wenger ready to discuss doping with UKAD

REUTERS – Arsene Wenger is ready to discuss doping in football with the British authorities but the Arsenal manager does not believe English clubs indulge in it.

UK Anti-Doping (UKAD) chief Nicole Sapstead told BBC on Wednesday she would like to interact with Wenger, who has been an outspoken advocate of a stronger anti-doping regime and state-of-the-art testing in the game.

“I don’t especially think I can do more than the people who are responsible (for tackling the issue), but if they think they need to talk to me I am available,” the 66-year-old Frenchman told reporters on Thursday.

“I think as well it is important that when a guy wins it is because he is the best and not because he is taking illegal substances.”

Although, on the surface, doping has not been a major problem in football as it has been for sports like athletics and cycling, there have been recent instances of players using illegal substances to gain an unfair advantage.

Dinamo Zagreb midfielder Arijan Ademi was banned for four years after he failed a drug test following a Champions League match with Arsenal in September.

“I’m sure that not one club in England is trying to dope its players,” Wenger said.

“I’m absolutely, 100 percent convinced that nobody in England tries to do that as a club.”

(Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)