Gunners plan late transfer moves

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he still wants to strengthen his squad and is ready to burn the midnight oil.

Wenger is desperate to sign a new midfielder after losing Alexander Hleb, Mathieu Flamini and Gilberto Silva this summer and he hopes to make a break through by midnight on Monday.

The Frenchman has already missed out on the signings of Gohkan Inler and Gareth Barry but he has not given up hope of making at least one new signing before the deadline.

"Last year it was at midnight - and we are ready to stay up all night this time if it is needed," Wenger said of the situation. "We have still a long time to go.

"For a while they all talk the talk and nothing happens, then in the last four or five days every half-an-hour there is a headline saying someone has signed somewhere.

"When you have experience of transfer dealings, you know that as long as something is not signed you know it can change very quickly so you can look very silly, so you don't want to come out and announce it."