On the eve of the new Premier League season, Wenger admitted his squad was “a bit short”, but reiterated his stance that the club are prepared to spend if – and only if – the player is right.
Arsenal have seen approaches for Luis Suárez, Wayne Rooney and Gonzalo Higuain fall by the wayside. The latest transfer target to slip through their fingers is Bayern Munich midfielder Luiz Gustavo, who completed his move to Wolfsburg on Friday for a fee of around £17 million, while Wenger confirmed that Mikel Arteta could be out for six weeks with a thigh injury.
But Wenger argued that there was more to completing a transfer than simply stumping up cash.
“The issue is that the club sometimes does not want to sell at any price,” he said. “In the example of Suárez and Liverpool, you have to calculate that if they want to get into the Champions League, who are their rivals and do they want to sell to us?
"Unless they need the money or have a clause or something, things do not always work just because you put the money up.”
