Arsene Wenger: Arsenal's on the lookout to buy players

Arsene Wenger

This transfer window has been the most disenchanting in recent years. The summer started with hopes of great deals and superstars coming in, and slowly degraded to hopefully we actually sign somebody.

“You would be surprised how early we acted [to get players in],” Wenger said in an interview today. “In our job sometimes, you can spend a lot of time, you don`t go on holiday, work on things, and it doesn`t come off.

“This is part of the job. A question of patience, of continuing to be completely focused and sometimes nothing happens in five or six weeks. Then sometimes in 24 hours you can do two or three good deals, it`s not predictable.

“I am confident we will make signings because the desire of the players to join us is clear. Also the fact that we have some funds available, even if not as much as everyone writes. We have the funds to do something.

“The win in Fenerbahce helps. Everybody says to us, are we happy with Champions League football? Yes we are, of course but we want more. But let me tell you the first question a player asks when they sign, they ask: ‘Do you play Champions League football?` This is how it is decided today. It is the first requirement of top, top-level players.

“Ideally, we would rather have the squad in place at the start of the season. I am a big fan of cancelling the window at the start of the season. One, the season has started, you should be able to focus on the quality of your play and to have everybody with the same players for the whole season.

“Maybe it was bad luck [that transfers didn`t happen]. We work very hard on transfers. It didn`t come off as quickly and as well as we would have wanted. In football, you have to deal with every situation and be patient. So as long as the transfer window is open, until the last minute, anything can happen on any front.

“I am very, very happy with the squad we have, the quality of the players. Numbers wise we are a bit short to cope for all the targets a club like us have. I would be worried we are not strong enough [if we signed nobody]. We will not go into the new season with only the number of players we have.”