Questions have been asked as to why the Frenchman did not invest heavily in January after the Gunners were comprehensively beaten by Manchester United and Chelsea in recent weeks.

Thomas Vermaelen, at a reported £10m, is Arsenal's only major signing in the last 12 months, although Wenger did swoop for Andrey Arshavin at great expense last winter.

The Frenchman has revealed that he worked hard before the transfer deadline to bring new faces in, only to find the financial demands too high.

"Football lives in an artificial world at the moment," he told the club's official website. "We have to live in a realistic world at Arsenal and we are very proud of that.

"If you go on high transfers, you go on high wages. It is linked and we cannot afford that.

"The second thing is that at the moment in football we live like everybody can buy and buy and buy. But look at what happened in this transfer market. Give me one big move?

"People ask me 'why did you not buy a great striker?' But tell me one who has moved from one club to another, not one. No big signings have happened in this transfer window.

"We are one of the ten best clubs in Europe and players who can strengthen your team at this period of the season are not available or at a price that you cannot afford."

Wenger has always maintained that he will not risk the club's long-term future by signing big-name players on high wages.

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