Quiet month

Despite a promising start to the season, Arsenal have stuttered a bit in the Premier League in recent times and it was widely expected that the Gunners would be looking to bring in a couple of players to the Emirate Stadium during the current January transfer window, especially in attack.

Much to the surprise of many though, Wenger has now gone on to drop a big hint that he will not be signing anyone this month and added that the return of Danny Welbeck to full fitness has fulfilled the need for a new attacking player.

Wenger said, “I expect it to be a very quiet period because we have Welbeck coming back. Offensively we are very strong, we have many players who can come in and overall I don’t expect to do anything special.”

Arsenal do not need Payet

Dimitri Payet dropped a bombshell recently by handing in a transfer request at West Ham United and the French international is currently refusing to even play for the Hammers.

Given his wonderful qualities, a host of top clubs have been linked with Payet and Arsenal are one of the names being mentioned at the moment.

However, Gunners’ boss Arsene Wenger has quashed any speculation surrounding a potential move for Payet this month by stating that he does not need to bring in anyone new to strengthen the creative areas at the Emirates Stadium.

The Frenchman said, “I don’t need Payet because we have so many creative players. I rate Payet as a player of course, but it’s not an area where we look for players.

“We have many players offensively who can play in this position. You’re interested by the quality of the player but there has to be a need as well, and we have no need in this domain.”

Wenger confirms new deal for Mertesacker

Even though Per Mertesacker has struggled with injuries this term, Arsenal have reportedly decided to hand the defender a one year extension to his current deal at the club which was set to expire at the end of the season.

Wenger has now confirmed the reports and has explained that rather than negotiating a new deal, the Gunners have decided to take up the option of extending the German defender’s current terms by 12 months.

He told Arsenal’s official website, “He has an option that we have taken. There was no negotiation; there was just an option that we took up.”