Arsene Wenger says Patrick Vieira is his best bargain signing - but he still considers Mesut Ozil a good deal because he is “top quality”.
Millions of shoppers are set to snap up deals this week as Black Friday hits Great Britain, with prices slashed on a number of goods.
Wenger will not be taking part on the day, but he says that even in football everyone wants to extract the best value they can.
"I can tell you I bought Patrick Vieira for £2.5m and it was a top bargain because he was a top-quality player"
Arsene Wenger
“What is for us a bargain is to buy players of top quality, because only top quality strengthens our squad," the Arsenal manager said.
“I can tell you I bought Patrick Vieira for £2.5m and it was a top bargain because he was a top-quality player - it would be difficult to repeat these kind of buys now.
“That looks for me a very important one now, because he gave me credibility for my career here at Arsenal. Maybe if you look purely financially [there are others like] Anelka for £500k or Petit for £4.2m - today these numbers look so ridiculously low, but it’s impossible to do better.
“What is most important is the quality of the player and, on that front, even for example we paid high money for Ozil and Alexis - the highest we’ve ever paid - but I don’t regret it for a second.
“I still think it’s absolutely fantastic because we have the money and because the players are top quality.”
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