Wenger believes in Gunners
by Laurent Picard, 08 May 2008
Arsene Wenger has insisted he would rather bring talent through the ranks than spend fortunes in the transfer market.
Arsenal came up short this season and Wenger was criticised for not adding to his ranks in January.
Wenger is likely to spend in the summer, with a defender and creative player his reported targets, but he is far more comfortable with bringing players through the system.
"I will try to buy, maybe in the defensive area and one on the creative side of the game as well because we had some players, important players, who were out this year," said Wenger.
"We want as well to bring new talent in on the creative side of our game.
"When there is a problem in England, people say 'you have to buy'. But you have to consider as well the development of your players internally.
"It isn't just down to money because we have bought players for nothing and they became world stars.
“It is as well down to the quality of the scouting, the quality of the work in training and the quality of the development in the players.
"I believe much more in that, working in an intelligent way to make a player improve.
"If we lose, people leave the game and say 'Wenger you must buy a centre forward' if we haven't scored, or they want a central defender if someone has made a mistake.
“But you have to accept that the team can be developed.
"This team got 68 points last year and this year 83. That is 15 points difference and in between we lost Thierry Henry and we lost many, many important players during the season.
“So you cannot say the team has not developed. Now the target for next season must be to get 90 or 92 points."