Wenger staying thrifty in January

Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal will "respect our budget" in the January transfer window.

The French coach is not known for big spending, preferring to invest in youth. But a trophy drought that stretches back to May 2005 means that he has come in for some criticism as a result of his reluctance to land big-name players.

Wenger, though, believes his way of doing things is better than that of some of his rivals, and he told Al Jazeera TV: "We respect our budget. You look at clubs who lose £100million or £150million and if we do that, then we go bust. It's as simple as that. We pay what we can afford."

He added: "I'm amazed that people are amazed that we do that. I think what is surprising is that people don't respect that.

"The beauty of the competition and this club is to be successful while respecting the financial balance.

"People will maybe realise one day that it's not as easy to stay at the top and as well to cope with financial compulsories that you have at the top.

"We face rivals who do not respect the financial fair play. Instead of us being accused, maybe people should look somewhere else."