Wenger defends transfer policy

Arsenal boss happy with long-term planning

Last updated: 3rd May 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Wenger defends transfer policy

Wenger: Happy with policy

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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has defended his policy of bringing in promising young players rather than spending big money on new signings.

The Gunners were unbeaten as they won the Premier League title in 2003/4 but Wenger was unable to build on his squad as the club's financial focus was on the move to Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal could not keep pace with the league leaders last season but have put up more of a challenge this term and Wenger remains confident the team will continue to improve.

Speaking about what happened after the 2004 triumph, Wenger said: "At the time, we decided to build a stadium, which cost a lot of money.

"We decided to go for a policy where we could survive without buying too much. We knew the resources were short and we suffered a little bit.

"But this season we were really, really close. No team has been punished more than we have and we have still only lost three games.

Tight

"We tried and we closed the gap. Last year we had 68 points and finished far behind. This year, we can make 83 and who knows what that will be good enough for?

"It was down to one game winning or losing, and at the time when it became really tight, we had everything against us."

Wenger insists he was not surprised to see Chelsea emerge as the new force from London, with the Blues having finished runners-up in 2004 under the guidance of Claudio Ranieri.

"People forget when we had that unbeaten season, Chelsea were second in the league," he said.

"They were a fantastic side. We didn't lose one game and they were very close to us.

"I knew they would become champions because they had (Frank) Lampard, (John) Terry, Joe Cole - they were all going up."