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Extra: Wenger on Hazard and spending

Alexis Sanchez celebrates
Alexis Sanchez

Read extra quotes from Arsene Wenger's press conference ahead of the Community Shield. For more headlines, visit our Digest page.

on Chelsea…
It’s our next game and the first trophy at stake. We will want to win the game of course.

on Eden Hazard…
He can decide the games and you put the top players in this kind of calibre when they can decide the games with something special. Hazard is in this category, now to reach the other two or three that are dominating world football at the moment I think it demands consistency which he is still to do.

on comparing Hazard with Cristiano Ronaldo…
It is all about opinions. You have to compare the numbers. I must say players like Messi and Ronaldo still score 50 goals and that is exceptional.

on much difference between Alexis and Hazard…
I don't like all these comparisons. Everybody always thinks these player is the best which I can understand but Sanchez did for the first year in the Premier League is absolutely exceptional and hopefully he will not only repeat it but grow again.

on whether Hazard was ever a target…
Yes.

on how close the deal was…
A few million!

on advice for young coaches…
Longevity does not depend only on the coach, also on his environment. I believe it is important, but we live now when the trend in our society is that we only want [what is] new. But I still believe that longevity and the cohesion, the history, the values has to be carried by someone and it is better that it is carried through generations by someone who knows what he wants and has the authority to do it.

on being called a ‘big-spending club’ and pressure that comes with…
We have more desire to do well than the pressure. We want to do well and we enjoy to play together. I think what you want is not to listen too much to what people say,

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because sometimes in the same week I get two different reproaches: one I don’t spend enough and one too much. I believe if you want to create success, which we want desperately, is to focus on inside and try to do as well as we can, believe in the football we want to play, play it as well as we can and let other people talk.

on not spending more than developed…
I believe that one day if you make real statistics of the players we have developed here and compare them to the other clubs, you will be surprised.

on having a good record at Wembley…
I think Chelsea have beaten us at Chelsea 2-0 last year, where we felt that we gave the game away a little bit. At home, we played 0-0, so it’s a third opportunity for us to beat them. We have a good opportunity to show that we have improved. It’s on neutral ground, where they’ve had success and we’ve had success, so it will be very interesting.

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