Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal are still financially weaker than Manchester City but insists that his club have moved on from the days when their best players would depart for the Etihad Stadium.
Arsenal lost five players to Manchester City between 2009 and 2014, as Bacary Sagna, Kolo Toure, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri and Emmanuel Adebayor all left the Emirates.
Wenger also sold Robin van Persie to Manchester United during a period in which Arsenal struggled to cope with the financial strength of their Premier League rivals.'City were good clients,' Wenger joked during his Friday press conference.
'We are (in a stronger position now) because today I feel we can give financial satisfaction and support ambitions and values that can make the players happy at this club.
'Before, perhaps the financial gap was too big a difference to keep our players. We could not compete, we had to sell players. 'It has reduced but it is still there.'
Sanchez is understood to have received an extraordinary £400,000-a-week offer from the Chinese Super League and is using it as leverage to up his wages. Arsenal's situation is not helped by the absence of financial regulations in the Chinese transfer market, which is distorting the usual expectations in the European dealings.Arsenal are attempting to secure new deals for two players whose contacts expire in 2018 but are yet to find a breakthrough.
The Arsenal manager refused to comment on the situation.
'No. I don't know (about financial impact). If people want to go to China, they go to China,' he said.
'You can understand that I have completely different worries than China today ahead of the Manchester City game. Look, I think I closed that subject. I believe that there is nothing more to add to that.'
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