Thierry Henry feels that Arsene Wenger isn’t as willing to spend big money on defenders as he is for midfielders and strikers.

Wenger has a reputation for being stingy with Arsenal’s transfer funds, but that hasn’t been the case in recent years.

He spent significant amounts to bring the likes of Shkodran Mustafi, Granit Xhaka, Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to the club.

Each of them cost more than £30m.

Notably, there is only one defender among them, something that Henry feels is significant.

“It seems like people always say that he does not want to spend big,” the Frenchman said on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football (via the Daily Star).

“He will always think that some of the players are not worth the price that you put on a table.

“I think he finds that really difficult.

“But it is a new era, you have to put at least, if you want someone good, £60m, £70m, whatever the position is.

“He does it easy for a striker, or a creative player, but for defenders, he probably thinks ‘that might be a lot’.

“We are obviously speculating, but it is a weird one that is difficult to pinpoint, because in some games they can show us that they can do it.”

Arsenal’s spending on defenders falls well short of the extreme spending Manchester City have done this season to bring in new full-backs and a centre-back.

Similarly, Liverpool recently spent £70m to sign Virgil van Dijk from Southampton.

Huge fees aren’t always the best indicator of a player’s ability, but it does seem like Arsenal prefer to spend as little as possible on defenders.

The biggest fee we’ve spent on a defender was on Mustafi in 2016.

With our defence requiring a rebuild in the summer, it’ll be interesting to see if we target any of the expensive big names, or look else where.