Wenger says Gunners still a magnet for stars

Arsene Wenger is convinced Arsenal remain attractive to top players as he prepares for a busy final 10 days of the transfer window.

Wenger is confident he will make the signings he needs following weeks of frustration in his efforts to recruit Gonzalo Higuain, Wayne Rooney, Luis Suarez and Luiz Gustavo.

The Gunners boss refused to comment yesterday on reports that Real Madrid duo Karim Benzema and Angel Di Maria are among his targets, and insisted former Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini is training at the club for fitness reasons.

Armed with a transfer budget thought to be in the region of £70 million, he is ready to strengthen a squad that has been hit hard by injury just two matches into the season.

“Yes I’m confident that we’ll make the signings because of the desire of players to join us,” he said.

“There’s also the fact that while we maybe don’t have as much money as everybody writes, we have some funds available to do transfers.

“We have our targets, we will try to achieve them and I’m confident we will get there.

“We’ve worked on it very hard but it hasn’t come off as quickly and as well as we wanted.

“You’d be surprised how early we acted. In our job you can spend a lot of time, not going on holiday and work on things without it coming off. You have to be patient.

“Sometimes nothing happens for five or six weeks and then in 24 hours you can do two or three good deals. It’s not predictable.”

Arsenal’s 3-0 victory over Fenerbahce on Wednesday night has placed them on the brink of qualification for the Champions League group stage, with the second leg being staged at the Emirates Stadium next week.

Wenger insists the prospect of playing in Europe’s biggest stage is critical to attracting new players.

“I can guarantee you that every player who wants to join us, their first question is, ‘Do you play in the Champions League or not?’. It’s as simple as that,” he said.

“When players decide to come or go somewhere else, it’s decided on that. That is the first requirement of the top, top, top level players.”

Arsenal’s playing resources have been thinned by injuries to Thomas Vermaelen, Abou Diaby, Mikel Arteta and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Wenger admits his squad is threadbare.

“I’m very, very happy with the quality of the players I have, but with the number at the moment we are short,” he said.

“Therefore I’m a bit worried that numbers-wise, we are not strong enough to cope with all the targets a club like us has.

“We will not go into the new season with only the number of players we have.”

Arsenal face Fulham in today’s early kick-off at Craven Cottage and Wenger has been impressed by his London rivals’ acquisition of striker Darren Bent, playmaker Adel Taarabt and defensive midfielder Scott Parker.

“They have one goalscorer, one guy who can give the final ball and a guy in the middle of the park with a lot of experience. They are good signings,” he said.

For his part, Fulham manager Martin Jol was never convinced Arsenal “had a problem” after watching the Gunners silence their critics against Fenerbahce.

“I played in Turkey a couple of times and it is almost impossible to have a win over there and they did, quite convincingly,” Jol said.

“They played with confidence, they were very sound at the back, in midfield they were very creative, they had pace up front and with their chances they could have scored more goals, so I am not sure if they have got a problem.

“There is not a fear factor in our team about Arsenal, but of course you know their qualities and you have to respect their qualities and try to play your own style.”