Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger confirmed the club’s hunt for new recruits will continue till the end of the transfer window.
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The Gunners have failed so far this summer to visibly strengthen a squad that only just managed to crack the Premier League top-four last season, with only France under-21 striker Yaya Sanogo joining the club in the off-season.
And despite chief executive Ivan Gazidis promoting the club’s “financial firepower” at the end of last season, Wenger has yet succeeded in his pursuits of Gonzalo Higuain, Luis Suarez and, more recently Luiz Gustavo.
However, Wenger was confident that there was enough time left in the transfer window to add to his squad.
“We are active,” Wenger told Arsenal Player. “We are in a situation like Manchester United, like Chelsea, where everybody expects signings and at the moment not a lot has happened.
“There are 18 days to go, so that is a long time in the transfer market and we will be active. I cannot certify what the number [of players coming in will be], but we will be active until the end, that is for sure.”
But while the search for new players continues, Arsenal’s squad continues to shrivel with a number of first-team and fringe players leaving the club.
Gervinho, Marouane Chamakh, Andre Santos, Sebastien Squillaci, Johan Djourou and Andrei Arshavin have all departed either on loans or permanent deals.
Wenger believes player like Gervinho, who joined Roma for £8 million, needed to leave the club to regain ‘confidence’.
“I made that decision because (Gervinho) looked to play with a lack of confidence, especially at the Emirates,” Wenger said.
“He is a very creative player, an instinctive dribbler and for that you need a lot of confidence to be completely efficient. I felt that in the last six months it was very difficult for him to express his talent in a confident way.
“Then you sit there and think, ‘do I bring him back or does he need a new challenge to get that confidence back?’ and I did not want to stop him from getting a new chance.”
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