Arsene Wenger was his usual, tip-lipped self at his press conference on Friday ahead of his side’s game against Manchester United on Sunday.

With reports showing no sign of slowing down linking Arsenal to Petr Cech, the Arsenal boss was naturally asked about his interest in the keeper.

The manager, who gives a little chuckle when asked if he was Jose Mourinho would he allow Petr Cech to join a rival, replied “That’s a very tricky question because we are not interested in anybody at the moment.

He was then asked about Chelsea and United already signing players and, taking exception with the reports that Chelsea have signed a player from Brazil by saying players from Brazil cannot come to the country yet, the manager explained his own plans which are either downright lies or extreme naivety on his part.

“Look, we will start at the end of the season.” This does, at least indicate that he will be looking to buy someone.

However, everyone knows that, while players are officially transferred inside of the window, the ground work can be laid before it opens. The club have done this themselves many times, Olivier Giroud and Lukas Podolski being two recent examples, although they do seem to love a deadline dash more than anything else.

Asked if anyone was ‘near‘ he replied simply “No” and when asked if Cech was available would he be interested to which he replied “I don’t deal with the ‘if'”.

Refusing to let it go, the reporter asked him if he didn’t think he needed a world class goalkeeper, an incredibly loaded question, to which the boss said “We have world class goalkeepers.” Fishing for the manager to perhaps pick out one of his keepers rather than both, the reporter then enquired if he meant he had two world class goalkeepers.

“We’ve got three,” Wenger replied.

Still don’t expect this to stop every keeper on the planet being linked with Arsenal this summer.