Interested Wenger can't budget for Beckham

SOCCER: Arsenal v Birmingham: Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has revealed he needs just one more player to complete his squad for next season - but it will not be David Beckham.

Wenger admits he would be interested if the England captain decided to return to London from Real Madrid this summer, but simply could not compete with the spending power of rivals like Chelsea.

"Does he interest me? Yes. Can we afford him? No," said Wenger. "He's an interesting player for any manager as he's a great footballer. He doesn't live too far away from the training ground so he wouldn't even need a helicopter - he could even come by bike."

Wenger is nevertheless already close to finalising his plans for next season, having just added striker Robin van Persie to the January capture of forward Jose Reyes. He is set to allow Kanu and Martin Keown to leave at the end of their contracts this summer, Sylvain Wiltord may follow suit, while he'd also like to find a buyer for Francis Jeffers.

However, he insisted: "I am still in the market for one more player, or two at most, but basically we have finished our transfer market.

"We have gone always for stability and we have brought in who we want to bring in. I want to keep the spirit of the squad and we have good young players that I want to keep it open for.

"The players who are under contract will all stay. As for the players who are free, their cases haven't been sorted out yet."

Dennis Bergkamp, one of those out of contract this summer, could still earn a final one-year deal.

"There's a good chance that Dennis will stay. He has been outstanding this year and can be a great influence on players like van Persie," added Wenger. "You need a balance age-wise in the squad. Sometimes, a player looks finished at 33 but then has a great season at 34."

Keown (37) could also remain.

"I don't know if Martin will stay. He still has games in him, maybe for two seasons, but I'm not necessarily convinced that he has those games at Arsenal," said Wenger. "If you don't play for too long at that age, then it's difficult to bounce back.

"We have Philippe Senderos and Pascal Cygan, as well as Sol Campbell and Kolo Toure, so we still have four centre backs."

Wenger has also insisted he has no plans to replace keeper Jens Lehmann, even though he admits the German international must calm down when provoked by opponents.

So with his defence and strikeforce sorted out, it is a midfielder Wenger must be seeking to sign, with Giovanni van Bronckhorst presumably set to be sold to Barcelona, where he is on loan.

Not that Wenger is also looking to get rid of Fredrik Ljungberg, despite reports.

"I don't know where this kind of information comes from, but it's not true. Of course, Freddie is staying," he maintained.

Then there are youngsters to bring through, such as striker Jeremie Aliadiere, defenders Senderos, Gael Clichy and Justin Hoyte, and midfielders David Bentley and Francesc Fabregas.

However, Wenger does not believe a radical overhaul is needed, even to find elusive success in the Champions League.

"I feel we've done well in Europe. Basically, we have lost against an English team whom we hadn't lost against before for 17 games," he said.

"We want to be a better team for next season and 90 per cent of that job starts with every individual in the team and with me."

Wenger's immediate priority, however, is to ensure Arsenal continue their unbeaten league run as they look to make history by going through the entire season without Premiership defeat.

With Birmingham City visiting Highbury today, he vowed: "Next season starts now. The players want to make history as they are winners.

"We fought so hard until now to keep that record going so that letting it slip now, just because we are not focused enough, would be stupid."