Speaking at full-time, Wenger said: “Why do you say I’m reluctant [to spend]?”
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Leicester lost its opening game last week to Hull City but Arsenal also went down 4-3 to Liverpool at home. In one way, I respect that because in the world we live in there’s a lot of pressure to bring in players. “We try to make the right decisions, it’s as simple as that”.
The 32-year-old won the European Championships with Portugal this summer and has been a reported target for both Arsenal and Manchester United, with Wenger revealing his recruitment hunt will not be restricted by how old a player is.
“I am sure my chief executive didn’t want to dampen the expectations on that front”, Wenger said after Arsenal’s 1-1 draw at RC Lens in a preseason game.
Wenger has been trying to sign a defender all summer but the demand is now greater than ever, and he has a long-standing interest in Shkodran Mustafi of Valencia. Arsenal are the first team-with Manchester City of course-that I watch. Wenger explained at his press conference on Friday morning that inflated prices made it hard for English teams to get any value. Olivier Giroud may have scored over 20 goals last season but he went missing for much of the last three months until getting a hat trick against relegation-bound Aston Villa on the last day. They don’t want to hear about the employees at the club, nor do they want to hear about only buying players of the right “quality”, which is seemingly Wenger’s favorite word to repeat whenever the topic arrives.
“We look a different team straight away and he gave us stability against a team that attacks very well”, he said.
“You can pay huge amounts of money for average players, there are plenty of those, but to find the ones who will strengthen your squad is more hard”.
They are without a win from their first two games – and fans chanted demanding Wenger open the club’s chequebook before the transfer deadline.
The 25-year-old suffered “significant cartilage damage”, which ended his Euro 2016 hopes, but Arsenal manager Wenger said the Englishman is nearing a December return.
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Wenger has hinted that he’ll take a gamble on Laurent Koscielny so the French worldwide should line-up in defence with Calum Chambers arguably the favourite to keep his place ahead of Rob Holding.
