Arsene Wenger: I’m not close to buying

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he is “not close” to making any new signings and will not do so just for the sake of it. The Gunners continue to be linked with Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema, but so far neither club has gone public.

In contrast, Arsenal’s Premier League title rivals Chelsea and Manchester City this week both spent big sums to bring in Pedro and Nicolas Otamendi from Barcelona and Valencia, respectively.

Wenger has yet to strengthen the Arsenal outfield, but did move for veteran goalkeeper Petr Cech earlier in the summer.

“I expect (signings) like you, but at the moment we are not close,” Wenger said, at a press conference ahead of Monday night’s match with Liverpool.

“I listen to everybody, but my job is to make decisions. We want to develop players as well rather than overthinking whether to buy. I am not against buying when it is a plus for your team, (but) if it is just to buy a player at the level of the players that you have to make people happy, I am not ready for that.

“If it is somebody who brings something you don’t already have in the squad, then of course you want to do that.”

He feels there is too much of a clamour to look beyond the existing squad for solutions to perceived shortcomings. “You want to focus on your own strengths and make sure that you develop your team. The cohesion, the style of play that everybody knows are important qualities,” he said.

“We live in a society hungry for news and news is good, I can understand that, but you have to absolutely be convinced (any new signing) strengthens your team.”

Wenger also believes there is a lack of the right calibre of player available for transfer in the current market.

Wenger said: “There’s a shortage [of top class strikers] in the world. It confirms there’s a difference between financial power nowadays and the availability of top-class players.

“It is simple. For any deal, when you want to buy something you go to see the owner and if he doesn’t want to sell, he doesn’t want to sell. You cannot buy. In our job it is exactly like that.

“When the players are not free you cannot buy them because it’s the club who decides, the person who owns the contract who decides. In Europe, you have maybe 15 clubs with a huge financial resource.

“It is hard, believe me, to get a deal over the line. It’s difficult as well if you’re not completely inside the deal, to know what happens. Did Pedro not want to go? Did Manchester United not want to spend more? I don’t know.

“It was a surprise to me because I thought he was landing at Manchester but he finally landed in London. The story was out for such a long time that I thought he was going to go to Manchester, but then suddenly in 24 hours [he joined Chelsea]. We’ve seen that before on the transfer market. I don’t know what happened exactly.

“I’m always more focused on developing the team, the players we have and getting everyone on board that we have at the club. We want to develop players as well rather than overthinking whether to buy.

“I’m not against buying when it is a plus for your team. If it’s just to buy a player at the level of the players that you have to make people happy, I’m not ready for that.”

Wenger hopes Costa Rica forward Joel Campbell would remain at the club rather than look for another loan move.