In the last few summers we have seen a lot of departures and deadline-day signings. But Arsene Wenger doesn’t want that this year. The Arsenal manager has thus tied van Persie’s future to the club already with reports suggesting the Dutchman has nearly signed a new contract. Fabregas and Bendtner were linked with moves away from the club but both have reiterated their commitment to Arsenal.

The only likely departures seem like Adebayor and Eboue. Ebuoe said he will only leave if a ‘big’ club wants him as he thinks clubs like Fiorentina aren’t up to his level. Same goes for Adebayor. He hasn’t had any offer from a big club yet and when he does he will consider his future. So it means Eboue surely won’t leave! As for Adebayor… Maybe.

“We lost Hleb and Flamini last summer and we have had to rebuild. But we have done that now and the future looks bright. We don’t want to have to rebuild again, so I want to keep all the players together for next season. I don’t want to lose anyone.

“I want to add to the squad and have identified one or two targets. But identifying players and buying them are two different things.

“Ideally I would like to bring everybody in before we start back in pre-season training in July. I don’t want to leave it until the end of August.

“We are at a stage where we need to convince people that this team does a lot of things right. It does not need to be transformed. When you go on a long unbeaten run in the Premier League and reach two semi-finals, common sense should tell you that.

“We have to take encouragement from what we have done in the season just gone.

“I am fed-up with people who think I have £100m in the bank yet don’t want to spend it. How can people think that? “The pride of the club is in having moved to a new stadium while maintaining the club at the top level.

“The policy of the club is that they have backed me in what I do and the way I do it. We now have to be strong enough to stick to that. We cannot pump £100m into it, so we must keep faith in what we are doing.

“Next season we will play the formation and system that most suits the players and the balance of the team.

“That means it’s not rigid. It can evolve throughout the season, depending on circumstances and personnel.

“If you play with Theo Walcott for example, you are more tempted to go for three midfielders because Theo is more of a forward than a midfielder in a 4-4-2.”

The one or two players he has identified better be holding midfielders!