Arsene Wenger drops hint over Arsenal's plans for the January transfer window

Arsene Wenger has hinted at a quiet January transfer window for Arsenal, insisting he is happy with all of his options in both attack and defence.

The Gunners have been active in recent winter windows with Wenger looking to the window to strengthen his squad in the past four years. Last January, Mohamed Elneny arrived from FC Basel with Gabriel joining the club from Villarreal in 2015. Kim Kallstrom was an emergency loan recruit in 2014, while the winter window of 2013 saw Nacho Monreal, now the club's regular choice at left-back, arrive in north London.

Wenger's current squad is set to be bolstered ahead of 2017 with long-term absentee Danny Welbeck back in full-training. Aaron Ramsey, who has missed most of the first half of the campaign with hamstring problems, is also close to returning, with summer signing Shkodran Mustafi scheduled to return in January, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's current hamstring not deemed serious by the Arsenal boss.

While not ruling out any incoming deals in the new year, Wenger suggested he is happy with his options across the pitch. "Of course, suddenly we have [Lucas] Perez, [Olivier] Giroud, Welbeck, [Theo] Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain up front so we have plenty of options offensively – defensively we are not in the need at the moment," he told a press conference on Friday.

Arsenal do have a lingering problem in midfield with Santi Cazorla still absent. The Spain international underwent surgery on his right ankle at the end of November having previously not played since mid-October. The midfielder is not expected to be back available until February, but Wenger insisted earlier this month he has no plans to bring in a replacement.

When asked about midfield enforcements following the Cazorla blow, Wenger said: "No [Cazorla will not be replaced]. "In midfield we have many players.

"There are two reasons – first of all we have the number and the quality and secondly, in the January transfer market, you will not necessarily find a Cazorla, even if you wanted to."