Wenger sticks to his principles, suggests transfer cap

LONDON (Reuters) -- Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger virtually ruled out any January signings on Tuesday and said only a transfer cap would establish the Premier League's true champions.

The Frenchman remains convinced he can bring the title to the Emirates without spending hundreds of millions, despite watching Manchester City buy their way into title contention.

"The real, real true test would be to give 100 million pounds to all the 20 clubs in the Premier League and say 'let's go'," Wenger, who last won a trophy in 2005, told reporters on Tuesday as third-placed Arsenal prepare to host second-placed Man City on Wednesday.

"That is the real test. Then you can say at the end of the year, the best club has won. The real, real test would be that everybody has exactly the same resources.

"The budget of a club is all that is involved -- commercial, television, player transfers and gates.

"As long as that does not happen, it is a test of who corresponds most to the potential of each club."

Wenger said he would only dip into the transfer window if defender Thomas Vermaelen suffers a setback in his recovery from injury. City, on the other hand, have already signalled their intent to spend heavily by agreeing to sign Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko from German club Wolfsburg.

"What is fantastic in football is there is no given formula," Wenger said of City's free-spending since they fell into the hands of Abu Dhabi owners.

"I personally am a big fan of the way we do it, so I try to be successful with the way we do it. You can also do it the way Inter do, or Manchester City do, they buy the best players in the world, and it works as well.

"What I want to show is it works our way as well."

"It does not annoy me (the other way) as long as they respect the rules," he added.

"At the moment, the rules are like that and they respect them, so you cannot fault them. It is supposed to change, then we will see."