Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is so convinced Patrick Vieira will not be leaving Highbury this summer that he has insisted any plans to buy a new midfielder have been scrapped.
Wenger has been consistently linked with a £15 million sterling move for PSV Eindhoven midfielder Mark van Bommel, while he has made no secret of his admiration for West Ham's Michael Carrick.
However, unless he was hiding his real objective ahead of tonight's game against the Hammers at Highbury, Wenger left the door to Dutch international van Bommel's signature open to Leeds.
Not only does he believe Vieira is staying, but he has been so impressed by the development of Edu and several youngsters still waiting in the wings that he will apparently concentrate his summer spending elsewhere.
Wenger, who will lose Gilles Grimandi this summer, said: "We rate Michael Carrick very highly but this is not the best moment to speak about that.
"For next season, I think we won't buy any midfielders.
"We already have many midfielders and Edu has done extremely well. We also have some younger players we want to push up into the first team next season.
"But I'm just focused on finishing this season well first."
Barring Wenger changing his mind, the youngsters who could save him several million pounds include Jermaine Pennant, Jon Halls, Sebastian Svard, Jeremie Aliadiere and Moritz Volz.
He also believes winger Robert Pires should be back in action in six months' time after undergoing an operation on his injured left knee in France on Thursday.
"They will repair his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. I expect to see him back in October or November," he revealed.
For the moment, Wenger's sights are still trained upon winning the title and victory against West Ham at Highbury would take Arsenal to their 10th consecutive league win.
His side have no new injury worries, with Sol Campbell due to return from his hamstring problem against Bolton next Monday while Oleg Luzhny and Sylvain Wiltord are still ruled out.
Victory in the Gunners' match in hand would lift them four points ahead of Liverpool and five ahead of Manchester United.
"Of course, it's a very big game in that respect. West Ham have a very good technical level and we will have to play 90 minutes of a top passing game to beat them," said Wenger.
Liverpool, meanwhile, are hoping to sign Nicolas Anelka before the end of the season but have reached an impasse over the fee.
The striker's club Paris St-Germain are asking for £17 million but Liverpool have tabled a bid closer to £12 million.
Liverpool's coach Phil Thompson was confident that the deal would be concluded, though the club are still keen to conclude a deal for Auxerre's Djibril Cisse, who is also likely to cost about £15 million if he can be persuaded to leave France.
"Nicolas has done great by us and we are still hoping everything will come off," he said.
"He has been good for us but we have also been good for Nicolas and now he's got a great chance of going to the World Cup."
Anelka played down speculation that his ambitions lay elsewhere. "When I arrived on loan I said after two weeks that I would be happy to sign for the club, and that remains the case," he said.
"I am revelling in my selection (for France) and I think that all comes from the work I have done with Liverpool."
Anelka's spell on Merseyside has not been entirely convincing. He has scored only two goals in 19 league starts for Liverpool, though he has returned to the French squad and played against Russia last week.
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