Dugarry move stuns Wenger
Dugarry's debut for Steve Bruce's side pits him against compatriots Sylvain Wiltord, Robert Pires and Thierry Henry when Arsenal visit St Andrew's tomorrow.
Pires, who recommended he should come to the Premiership, joked that his friend had therefore "not been lucky at all" and vowed to ensure him a baptism of fire.
The move is initially on a loan basis but could still be a major investment by a club who have also splashed out on Jamie Clapham, Stephen Clemence and Ferdinand Coly in a bold move to stay up.
Wenger also acknowledged that a player of Dugarry's experience and calibre may not have moved to Birmingham in the past as they would have been priced out of the market.
"The good thing is that clubs like Birmingham can touch players now that they couldn't touch before. It's also down to the transfer window as people know they don't have a long time to wait for something so, if they have an opportunity, they take it."
And so Dugarry, 31, with 50 caps, a World Cup winner's medal and spells at Barcelona and AC Milan behind him, found that Birmingham were the most enticing prospect in leaving Bordeaux.
Despite having only previously heard of two team-mates Aliou Cisse and, intriguingly, Robbie Savage he has scoffed at suggestions he has come to England for an easy pay cheque.
Wenger and Pires certainly believe Dugarry will be a success in England, albeit starting after tomorrow's televised encounter.
Wenger said: "He's a proud guy and I don't think he needs money. He's played at AC Milan and Barcelona so usually players aren't the poorest when they come out of there.
"He wants to show that he's still successful. He's a top-class international player. He can run at people and create the spark.
"He can score as well and is very quick. In my opinion, he's still 100 per cent physically and he's not afraid of the physical side of the game.
"That's Birmingham's style and he's strong in the air too. He looks to be built for the Premier League."
Pires added: "Things were not going so well for him at Bordeaux so he had to change. I'm a bit surprised that he hadn't come to England before.
"I told him that if he had the chance to play in the English league, then he should take it because you can get your kicks here and the atmosphere is so great in the grounds.
"He is very strong physically and I think he will be a success, just not this weekend, I hope. I wish him well but I won't give him any presents on Sunday."
Wenger, who observed that Birmingham are building a strong squad, still believes Dugarry's case is symptomatic of the state of the transfer market.
"It shows you there are so many players on the market that the smaller teams can get big players as everyone wants to sell first," he added.
"Everywhere in Europe, you can have who you want if you have money and if you need the players. I also predict a very quiet summer."
Wenger said that Patrick Vieira will return from injury next weekend against West Ham as he scotched fears that his captain is suffering from a serious groin problem.
Vieira returned to France this week to see specialist Philippe Boixel, who has previously treated Ronaldo, Steven Gerrard and Christian Vieri.
His diagnosis on the midfielder's groin problem was reported to have been that he could need a month-long break from the game.
"Patrick will be in contention for next week. He has a groin problem which he had been playing with but I decided to cure it after the Chelsea game," he declared.
"It's just an inflamed groin that is much better now and he is close to returning. He wanted to play on Sunday and if I had to, I could play him.
"But we want to cure him completely so that he does not provoke a strain."
Wenger revealed Freddie Ljungberg will be out for at least another fortnight with an inflamed Achilles.
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