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Payet not on my wishlist: Arsenal coach Wenger

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IANS London

English Premier League football club Arsenal's coach Arsene Wenger on Thursday said he expects a "very quiet" end to the January transfer window, ruling out signing of West Ham United's French midfielder Dimitri Payet.

"I don't need Payet because we have so many creative players. I rate Payet as a player of course, but it's not an area where we look for players," Wenger was quoted by ESPNFC telling a press conference on Thursday ahead of Sunday's home game against Burnley.

"We have many players offensively who can play in this position. You're interested by the quality of the player but there has to be a need as well, and we have no need in this domain," the Frenchman said.

 

Payet has recently expressed his desire to leave the club. The 2016 European Championships finallist with France who had a superb last season with West Ham is reportedly getting offers from French side Marseille.

Arsenal have also been often linked to the player.

"I expect it to be a very quiet period because we have striker (Danny) Welbeck coming back. Offensively we are very strong, we have many players who can come in and overall I don't expect to do anything special," he said.

On the task ahead, Wenger said Burnley are a good side who defend very well.

"They are very efficient at home. They know very well what to do at home, they defend very well and they do not concede goals," Wenger said.

"They are a top 10 team in the first (half) of the league, so what they have done is absolutely unbelievable.

"So we have to make sure they do not find a solution away from home on Sunday, because it is a big game for us and we have to prepare well. Even away from home recently they were a bit unlucky in some games."

--IANS

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First Published: Jan 19 2017 | 7:54 PM IST

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