Wenger insists he is not concerned by Holding’s lack of experience, and is confident of his team’s chances ahead of the new campaign.
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With Gabriel and Mertesacker sidelined due to injury and Laurent Koscielny not match fit yet after his prolonged holiday following Euro 2016, Wenger will turn to young defender Rob Holding for Sunday’s match against Liverpool.
There were suggestions in the press that Wenger might rush the 30-year-old back sooner than expected and start him against Liverpool to help ease Arsenal’s crisis in defence.
When asked by Standard Sport if there is any update on the negotiations, a visibly tense Wenger said: “No”. We keep that internal.
“We are making progress, but it’s a long process”. They still have two years contract and there is no urgency as well.
“There is no reason for fans to be concerned”, Wenger said at a media conference. They take a lot more time now.
Asked about the potential signing of defender Mustafi, Wenger simply said: “I can not tell you”.
Arsenal’s Brazilian central defender Gabriel was carried off on a stretcher after damaging ankle ligaments during their 3-2 pre-season win over Manchester City in Gothenburg on Sunday.
“You would understand you could lose against City, United, Liverpool or Tottenham – not Tottenham!”
Wenger officially confirmed the unavailability of the four players on Wednesday. “You can still find players of top quality, sometimes, at a reasonable price”. “But we are also in a competition as well, so if someone offers £40m for a player, you have to pay £45m”.
“We know that in England transfer is very high because of the influx of money”, he said.
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“Manchester United are the richest club in the world along with Real Madrid. On Thursday, he felt a little bit so we will have to see”, Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com. “Most of the time it is because they are injured but today at the top level you have to be consistently, physically at the top”, the Arsenal boss admitted.
