Arsenal transfer news: Arsene Wenger unruffled by main rivals' big spending

Wenger’s summer spending has been limited to £11m on goalkeeper Petr Cech

Arsène Wenger denied he was ever interested in trying to sign Raheem Sterling from Liverpool (Getty)

Arsène Wenger flew in for a pre-season tournament here in Singapore on Monday night and allowed himself a knowing smile after learning two of his Premier League rivals had spent nearly £100m in a day boosting their squads.

But either his renegade goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny had slipped him some laughing gas during the 13-hour flight or the Arsenal manager genuinely is not worried. Wenger denied he had ever shown an interest in rivalling Manchester City’s £49m move for Raheem Sterling and indicated Manchester United also might have overpaid in their deals for Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin.

Wenger said: “It is no surprise first of all they go to clubs where the money is. It is one thing having money, but now we have to spend it in the right way, but they are all top-class players. I like Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger and Sterling, but offensively we have plenty of players. United came out of the season thinking they had to replace their midfield. They did it by buying two important players.”

Wenger’s summer spending has been limited to £11m on goalkeeper Petr Cech. Mikel Arteta, the Arsenal captain who has signed a one-year contract, expressed his surprise and delight Cech had crossed the London divide.The midfielder, 33, said: “His ambition is intact even though he has won so many trophies with Chelsea. To have won what he has won and then come here is important because he knows he is going to get stick from Chelsea fans as he was a hero there.”

READ MORE: Arsenal 2015/16 away shirt?
Arsenal goalkeepers pictured together

Wenger also used the opportunity to tell Italian champions Juventus they are wasting their time in their reported pursuit of Mesut Özil. He said: “Özil is our player, he will remain our player and he wants to remain our player. It is a big season for him because he had a difficult start last year and in the second part of the season he was very important.”