Arsene Wenger open to Arsenal marquee signing opportunity but calms director's £200m budget claims
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has claimed that the Gunners "are working hard" on finding big signings during the current transfer window, but added that club director Lord Harris went "a bit overboard" when he claimed the French boss has £200m ($309m) available to spend.
The Gunners suffered a long period of transfer window poverty after their move to the Emirates Stadium, failing to signing any star names while being forced to sell assets like Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas.
But Wenger has changed his tactics in the last two summer windows and signed Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid and Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona.
Lord Harris recently revealed the French boss had the club's permission to break the bank again during the current window in order to get a new marquee star, claiming they have £200m in the bank and could sign almost any player in the world.
"Money was tight when we moved to the Emirates but it's a lot freer now," Harris said during an interview with Daily Mail. "We could go into the market and probably buy any player in the world, apart from half a dozen who are unbuyable. In the accounts, there's over £200m in the bank. You could say to Arsene we've got no money and he wouldn't worry, or you could give him £100m and he might not spend it."
But speaking in a press conference ahead of the Emirates Cup, Wenger said, as quoted by Mirror: "He has gone a bit overboard because that is not true.
"We are in a situation where we are working hard where if an opportunity comes up we can do something but we are not in need. We are in a strong position with a strong squad I am happy with.
"We have built up something special last season, that is a good team dynamic and confidence level. We want to work on that and not expect too much from outside now. It is inside our squad that our performance has to be sufficient."
And asked whether signing a striker is it a possibility, he added: "I don't want to promise you too much.
"We are open-minded everywhere. We work very hard to find the players we can. We spent a lot of money in the last two season and bought Gabriel [Paulista] in the middle of the season to be ready for this season."
"We are not reluctant to spend the money. Now we have the money, if we can find the players we will spend the money."
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