Amidst rumors of Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere leaving the Emirates, Arsene Wenger has declared that Arsenal no longer have to sell their best players.

The club had to weather an extended period of tight budgeting after making the move from Highbury to their current home, which cost them almost half a billion pounds to construct without any public funding. But with loans repaid and more lucrative partnerships in place, mother hen Arsene won’t be having eggs stolen by those dastardly Premier League foxes anymore.

From PA Sport:

The Gunners boss insists Arsenal are “not in a position any more where we have to sell our best players.”

Wenger continued: “When we had the period of restricted finances, we had to sell the players when they started to perform — from 18 to 23.

“A player becomes a player at 23 or 24, but if you have to sell them at 23 or 24, then you just feel you work for the other clubs.”

This is bad timing for Manchester City, who were surely counting on poaching a fresh crop of Arsenal players to rejuvenate an aging squad that has underachieved this season. Having already taken the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Samir Nasri, Bacary Sagna, and Gael Clichy, what are they supposed to do now? Sign more guys called Fernando? That’s not working at all.