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Wenger eases fans' fears of player exodus

07/05/2008

Arsene Wenger has stated his belief that Arsenal will not lose any more key players during the summer, despite Mathieu Flamini's departure.

The highly-rated French midfielder, whose contract runs out in the summer, has opted to leave the Gunners on a free transfer to join Serie A giants AC Milan.

And several pundits have suggested this could be the first of many players to ask to leave the Emirates Stadium during the close season after a second successive year without silverware.

However, Wenger says the Flamini situation - although in some ways self-inflicted - will not dent the ambition of the club to hold onto its top young players to mount a title challenge next season.

"We were close this year but we did not win and what I expect from my team is that, if you are a winner, you say 'let's come back next year and win'," the French tactician told the Arsenal website.

"If our players are not capable of doing that and just want to walk out for bigger contracts, for me that would be the biggest disappointment.

"If you are a winner you say 'you beat me now in a game but give me a chance to come back and beat you'. That's what I expect of a team.

"If they cannot do that then it means I was wrong completely in my whole judgment of this team."

Wenger admitted he was "disappointed" in the actions of his countryman Flamini, who the manager claims was distracted by the sum of money on offer at the San Siro.

But he conceded that the 24-year-old had technically done nothing wrong in deciding to leave and it was a slant on the state of the game as it exists today, rather than the player himself.

"It is a problem [the salaries on offer] but we did not master this situation because when a player is out of contract he can sign where he wants," said Wenger.

"I must say I am disappointed he did that but legally he can do it."