Wenger bemoans star appeal

Wenger has a reputation for turning unknown quantities into world class talents, but is now under pressure to add experience to his squad.

“It’s very difficult because the level of expectation is very high,” Wenger said.

“People want to see Lionel Messi. They don’t want to see a promising guy. First of all the name gives hope. When a guy has no name people are already sceptical, so it’s much more difficult for us.”

“The country where we were really, really competitive was France. They produce less players than they did 10, 15 years ago at the top level.

“The emerging countries now look to be Germany and Spain and they have many good young players; they have taken over.”