Wenger: Arsenal don't need Isco

Reports in Spain have linked the Gunners with a move for the Real Madrid playmaker, but the French manager says he is only interested in bringing in defenders, not attackers

Arsene Wenger has stressed that Arsenal do not need to sign players such as Real Madrid's Isco as they already have enough attackers.

The Gunners were reportedly readying a club-record bid for the Spanish playmaker and have long been cited as a possible destination for Petr Cech, who has been usurped as Chelsea's first-choice shot-stopper by Thibaut Courtois.

Wenger, though, insists that he has no desire to recruit any more attacking players to his side - having already had to trim Lukas Podolski from his squad - while he has faith in his current crop of goalkeepers.

"No, we are not on [Isco's] case," said the Frenchman told reporters. "We have plenty of creative players. We are more short on the defensive side of our game, not on the offensive side.

"We have plenty of offensive players. We just spoke about Podolski who just went out, we spoke about [Yaya] Sanogo going out because we have so many offensive players that they don’t get a chance to play. So we won’t buy someone else in the attack."

On Cech, he added: "No, Petr Cech is at Chelsea. We have three goalkeepers who for me are top class and there is a big competition going on. I have no doubt we have the needed quality."

Though Wenger admitted that he is keen to bolster his defensive ranks, he denied that the club were trying to sign Saint-Etienne captain Loic Perrin: "No, we are not on the case."

The agent of Legia Warsaw teenager Krystian Bielik, meanwhile, revealed that Arsenal had opened talks over a move, and Wenger admits he is a player the Gunners have been tracking.

"He is a young boy that we follow, yes," he added.  "You see I gave you some information! We are not very close at the moment [to an agreement]."