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Wenger keen to bolster Arsenal squad but urges caution in transfer market
22-Feb-2013 6:05:00 AM
The Gunners manager claims his club are in a better position to buy players in the close season than in January, but is eager to blood youngsters as well as new recruits
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has hinted at a large summer transfer budget, but warns he will take his time over the right signings to aid the club's progress.
The 63-year-old spent around €50 million last summer on the likes of Lukas Podolski, Santi Cazorla and Olivier Giroud, but fans frustrated at the perceived lack of progress at the club have called on the Frenchman to further improve the squad at the end of the season.
Wenger says he feels the club are ready to spend money on players of “top, top quality”, but also insists there needs to be a balance of developing youth players in addition to expensive signings.
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"We went out to spend money at Christmas but we didn't find the players.
"I also believe we have to be faithful to what this club is about, which is to give a chance to the young players we educate - that is vital. Therefore [we should only] bring in the players who really give us a plus.
"If we find tomorrow a player of top, top, top quality, we will take him."
Arsenal fans appear to be slowly running out of patience with the Wenger regime with the club suffering defeats to Bradford, Blackburn and most recently Bayern Munich in the cup competitions, leaving them likely to extend their trophy drought to eight years.
Even after Tuesday’s moral-sapping defeat at the hands of the German giants, Wenger still believes he has the basis of a strong squad to work with for next season.
"We are not far away, but it is difficult to convince you today,” he continued.
"We are not so far at the moment from Bayern.
"We need to be intelligent and strong in this period. We have to keep a guideline of what we have done until now. Strengthen the team in the positions we feel we are a bit weaker.
“But we have a basis of a team that is very strong for me. I believe in some areas of our team we can compete with anybody in the world. We analyse all the European and English teams and in some areas of our team we are very competitive."
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