At the end of a week in which Manchester City and Chelsea have bolstered their squads, with pressure on Arsenal to buy reinforcements of their own, Arsène Wenger has outlined the “big problem” caused by the imbalanced transfer market. The Arsenal manager believes the number of wealthy clubs far outstrips the amount of sought talent, which leaves gaps that are hard to fill.
“It is difficult because there’s more money in football, more clubs with big resources, and less players available,” said Wenger. “The funds are there more than the players who could strengthen the squad. That is a big problem. People know that you have the resources and they want you to buy players from clubs who do not need your resources, and who are not necessarily prepared to sell.
“It is simple. For any deal when you want to buy something, you go to see the owner and if he doesn’t want to sell, he doesn’t want to sell. You cannot buy. In our job it is exactly like that. In Europe you have maybe 15 clubs with a huge financial resource.”
Having only bought in Petr Cech this summer while other Premier League rivals have been purchasing more heavily, Wenger maintains the belief that flurries of signings are not necessarily the answer.
Arsenal remain in the hunt for the high-calibre players who can make the difference, with a centre-forward still high on the agenda.
“I was asked this question two years ago when some clubs bought 10 players and people said: ‘How do you feel? You have no chance now’. What you want is to focus on your own strengths and make sure that you develop your team. The cohesion, the style of play that everybody knows are important qualities.”
“We live in a society that is hungry for news and news is good, I can understand that. But you have to absolutely be convinced that it strengthens your team.”
He added Arsenal are doing all they can to strengthen the squad. “What is our target every day, from morning to night, we try to be as good as we can in every single department of our club. I expect [a signing] but we are not close,” he said.
Arsenal face Liverpool on Monday night looking for a convincing performance, having suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat by West Ham in their first home game of the season. “We missed our first game against West Ham and we had to look at ourselves, and I believe we responded very well at Crystal Palace. Now we need to come back to our usual strength that we have at home.”
Wenger does not expect the midfielder Jack Wilshere to be available in time for England’s upcoming qualifiers, against San Marino and Switzerland, following a hairline fibula fracture. “It is too early to think he would be playing for England but after the international break he has a chance,” Wenger confirmed.