Arsene Wenger denies Arsenal’s expected signings are panic buys as he gets set to welcome Lucas Perez and Shkodran Mustafi to the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal are expected to spend around £52million to sign Perez and Mustafi from Deportivo La Coruna and Valencia respectively in the coming days.
However, despite his reluctance to spend big in the past, and considering the timing of the purchases, Wenger insists he does not panic buy.
Wenger laughed when he was asked if Perez was the Spanish Jamie Vardy.
“I like that one, yes” said Wenger who claimed that their decision to hijack Everton’s move for Perez was not done in desperation after missing out on Vardy earlier in the summer.
“Look at my face, is it the face of somebody who does a panic buy?” said Wenger looking more relaxed than ever. “No. I try to make the decision.
“But you will see how many transfers will happen in the next three or four days, it will be amazing, maybe the biggest amount ever.
“I have to make the right decision, knowing that it is not easy. What we spoke about many times, you are not the only one who decides about the timing.
“My job is to resist stress and pressure, while keeping my head in the blue, just what is right. Focus in life is on one thing.
“You want to go from A to B, how far can you maintain that focus, and make the right decisions? Unfortunately, we all make mistakes.”
“I expected it (the transfer window) to be easier than ever but it was more difficult than ever. Not a lot has happened. It looks like when you meet other clubs and you have an English passport, you hit these [big] prices which are very difficult to understand compared to the quality of the players.
“It looks like it will be frenetic for me in the last three days. Everybody has sat on their pounds until now. We know they will all splash out now. I expect the next three days to be very, very busy.
“Perez is a late developer, he played in a different position. He moved centrally in a successful way. I think he has good link up qualities, good quality of receptions, good finishing qualities. Let’s see if we can finish the job.
“I think (Mustafi) will be a good player but time will tell. He had three years at Everton, he went to Italy, to Spain but at 17 years of age, it is a difficult age to play centre-back in the Premier League. He was Valencia’s captain. If we get it done we get what we wanted.”
Mustafi has undoubtedly been Arsenal’s No1 defensive target all summer but Valencia have played hardball before finally cracking this week and a £25m- plus deal has been agreed with a fee potentially rising to £35m.
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