Arsene Wenger finding it ‘very difficult’ to strengthen Arsenal squad during transfer window

Following Manchester United’s world-record £89m deal for Paul Pogba, and Manchester City’s heavy spending, Arsenal fans have grown restless with their lack of transfer dealings.

The North London club have added three players - Granit Xhaka, Takuma Asano and Rob Holding – this summer as they bid for a first Premier League title since 2004.

Granit Xhaka is one of three Arsenal signings so far this summerReuters

Wenger has claimed interest from any English club will cause the valuation of a player to skyrocket.

“It makes the market more unpredictable. Where you could approximately value a player before, today the identity of a club that comes in for a transfer is more important than the rest,” Wenger told Sky Sports.

“If you go to Spain and you’re an English club, straight away the inflation comes in. So I would say, in France the clubs amongst themselves are very reasonable. If an English club comes in the price goes straight away up because they know there is money in England.”

Despite being critical of United’s fee for Pogba, the Arsenal manager went onto admit that the French midfielder meets the criteria for that value.

Wenger was originally critical of Man United's Pogba dealReuters

“The value of a player is dependent on his talent, the expected strengthening of the team, his age and of course his resale value,” Wenger added.

“When you speak about Pogba, it ticks all these boxes, but we are in a system that we don’t master.

"We have to follow the prices paid by other people. That has gone up because the available of money is much higher. That’s why we've crossed the £100m bar for the first time."

Arsenal have been linked with Lyon striker Alexandre Lacazette throughout the summer, with many pointing to Wenger’s attack as an area which needs reinforcement.