Wenger focused on keeping stars

Wenger focused on keeping stars

Arsene Wenger maintains his "first target of the summer" will be ensuring key men like Cesc Fabregas, Alexander Hleb and Mathieu Flamini stay at Arsenal - before looking to add some experience to his squad.

The Gunners have faltered over the last two months, as both their Barclays Premier League title charge and Champions League hopes ended in bitter disappointment.

Wenger, though, maintains his young squad does not need major surgery, telling Arsenal TV Online: "My first target of the summer is to make sure what we have here stays here, and after, if there is still money available, to buy players."

Attention has now turned to what is required to see Arsenal stay the course next season along with rivals Chelsea, Manchester United and European Cup semi-finalists Liverpool.

But Wenger accepts the test case of Scottish footballer Andy Webster, which under European Law allows players to buy out their contracts, has changed the landscape in terms of team planning.

He continued: "There is money there [for transfers], but not as much as I read in the newspapers, because that is not true. However, with my financial package, the first thing I have to make sure is we keep the players we have at the moment. That is what people forget.

"The new rules put you under threat to lose your best players because after three years any player can walk out and after two any player over 28. So the rules and.....continued below

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"It is not as simple as it looks when you read there is so much money available to buy players - that transfer budget also includes the improvement of the wages."

Wenger has been linked with a number of potential transfer targets, including Palermo’s Brazilian striker Amauri, Lyon’s £12million-rated winger Hatem Ben Arfa and Valencia forward David Villa.

While he revealed there was indeed an Arsenal ’wishlist’, the French coach insisted: "Who we will buy in the summer is not decided yet, but I have players in mind. We have lists which we keep up to date, player number one, two, three or four in the positions were we look for - and you go of course for the number one."

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