‘At Arsenal we make superstars’

ARSENE WENGER has defended his tight grip on the Arsenal purse strings by declaring: “We don’t sign superstars, we make them”.

If Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov is successful during the looming power struggle at the Emirates, Wenger could be armed with the spending power to rival even Chelsea.

But the Frenchman insists that whoever triumphs in the boardroom, he will continue pursuing his policy of signing promising talent and turning them into big names.

Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira, Nicolas Anelka and latterly Cesc Fabregas are the pick of the players who arrived in north London as relative unknowns before developing into world-class players under the Arsenal boss.

“I’m not scared to spend big money. If there is a player that I feel we need then of course I will buy him,” he said.

“But at Arsenal we make the superstars. If you find a special player then fine but I have not seen a number of what you might call world-class players available.

“Maybe some have a world-class price, but they are not all world-class players. If you sit down and give me £30million to buy one, could we find one?

“Chelsea maybe tried to sign Ronaldinho and they have more money than anyone in the world, but he has not joined them. For me, for £60m a guy must take the ball at the kick-off and score every time he touches the ball.

“The highest we have ever bid for a player was £15milllion for Antonio Reyes. We have never bid higher because the quality hasn’t been there.

“I will only pay what I think a player is worth and there are not many world-class players better than we already have. I don’t know why everybody wants us to buy. We have started the season well, qualified for the Champions League and are playing in a convincing way.’’