• Premier League

Wenger: Arsenal can win title without Suarez

ESPN staff
August 3, 2013
Arsene Wenger feels his current squad is good enough to challenge Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City © Getty Images
Enlarge

Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal are capable of winning the Premier League, even if Luis Suarez does not join them from Liverpool.

Arsenal have seen a bid of £40,000,001 for Suarez rejected by Liverpool, with the club's pursuit of the striker continuing to drag on.

France Under-20 forward Yaya Sanogo, signed on a free transfer, has been the extent of the Gunners' transfer business this summer. However Wenger is adamant Arsenal's current squad is good enough to challenge Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City for the title.

Speaking after Saturday's 2-2 draw with Napoli in the Emirates Cup, Wenger said: "Yes, of course. I am confident. Why should I sit here and say to you we can absolutely not win the title with the players we have?"

When quizzed about Arsenal's chances of landing Suarez, Wenger opted to remain coy, as he has done throughout his chase for the Uruguayan.

"I never said we have made a bid to Liverpool, now I can tell you we have made one, so at least that is some information. All the rest, I would like to keep to us.

"If we progress in that situation, we will inform you. At the moment, that is where we are. We will treat every transfer with the rules we have always done until now, that is in a fair and respectful way.

"We have one month in front of us and we will work very hard to strengthen our squad, without naming any specific names, because I do not believe that will make negotiations easier.

"When you want to buy any player you need the agreement of the club, of the player and you need to agree a price, so you need three agreements.

"What is important is we focus on the players we have, that we are not too much drawn into these stories."

Wenger's faith in his squad's ability to challenge for the title seemed misplaced when Lorenzo Insigne and Goran Pandev put Napoli 2-0 up at the Emirates, but Olivier Giroud and Laurent Koscielny earned the Gunners a draw.

"It was a good game overall at a good pace against a good side who finished second in Italy last year," Wenger said.

"I feel overall over 90 minutes we played going forward. It took us time to adjust defensively, and as well it was a good mental test because from 2-0 down to come back for 2-2 is very impressive."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
Close