Arsene Wenger: Manchester United Anthony Martial deal shows why Arsenal made no moves on deadline day

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has said he opted against bolstering the Gunners squad on deadline day due to a dearth of players who coluld improve his side. The Frenchman pointed to the example of Manchester United spending €80m (£58m, $90m) on Anthony Martial – even though he agrees the former Monaco starlet is a huge talent.

Following the arrival of Chelsea's Petr Cech earlier in the summer for around £10m, Wenger was urged to break the bank to sign both a proven top scorer to lead his attack as well a holding midfielder to compete with Francis Coquelin. However, even though the French boss insisted a he was open to making a new marquee addition to follow the previous arrivals of Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, he refused to conduct any business on deadline day.

Pundits and fans have questioned this decision. Wenger, however, has defended himself, while claiming that the big money move for Martial proved there were no players available to improve the Arsenal squad.

"What happened last night with Monaco, who sold Martial to Manchester United for €80m, I've heard. Martial scored 11 goals in the French championship – that sums it up well. That means it's not the money that's missing at the moment, it's not the desire of investment that is missing, it's the number of players available who can strengthen the big clubs," Wenger said, as quoted by Standard Sport.

"The problem at the moment is finding the players that guarantee you are a better team after. Martial is a huge talent. The investment is absolutely huge as well. It shows you that there's not many players in the world who can strengthen these teams."