Football
PA Sport 8y

Arsenal's Arsene Wenger tips Prem transfer spend to rise above £1bn

Arsene Wenger is set to take Arsenal's summer spending close to £100 million and he believes every Premier League club remains open for business.

Defender Shkodran Mustafi and forward Lucas Perez arrived in London for medicals on Friday as the Gunners looked to strengthen their squad before the transfer window closes next week.

Wenger has endured a tough summer, with the early signing of midfielder Granit Xhaka from Borussia Monchengladbach only complemented by Rob Holding's arrival from Bolton.

Arsenal suffered a setback when Jamie Vardy snubbed a move away from Leicester, but it appears Wenger is closing in on a double signing after fans called for more of the club's cash reserves to be invested in playing staff.

Wenger joked that he is "scared'' of the total sum that Arsenal seem certain to spend and predicts the Premier League clubs will easily top £1 billion in summer transfer spending.

"I always told you it's not a question of numbers. It's 'Do you have the money to spend it?,'" he said.

"That is the first question. And after, 'Do you make sure that you spend it well?'

"And I think when I told you the transfer is linked of course with talent, the expected strength, but as well with resale.

"When you buy a player of 24 you can always get your money back.''

Asked whether he thought spending would go over the £1bn mark, as it nudged the £900m mark with five days to go, Wenger replied by pointing upwards and adding: "I don't know [by how much] but I'm convinced [it will be more].

"There are many, many clubs in England who have a big amount of money available and haven't spent yet -- you could say all of them.

"Who has finished in the market? Nobody. Everybody is waiting, I think, to get the deals done.

"The clubs who want to sell to English clubs, today they fetch a huge amount of money so it takes a long time to settle and then the clubs resist, resist and maybe in the next three days everybody will find agreements.''

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