Arsène Wenger said yesterday he will not sign any more players to boost his young squad, even as Arsenal announced record earnings which showed their manager could have almost £80m to spend if he wanted to.

Arsenal's income, published in the club's accounts for the 12 months to 31 May this year, was £313.3m, the largest annual turnover ever recorded by a British football club. The club's profit, after tax, was £35m, boosted by sales of apartments in the old Highbury stadium which had previously stalled in the economic downturn. The accounting period did not include Wenger's lucrative player trading this summer, in which Arsenal received £42m for Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Touré from football's new big spenders, Manchester City.

Yet speaking before tomorrow's Champions League tie at home to Olympiakos, Wenger took the opportunity to restate his faith in Arsenal's current squad and explain why he will not be spending the windfall in the January transfer window.

"There is money to spend but at the moment I am very happy with the squad I have," said Wenger. "It's not because I'm against spending money; I have nothing against spending money. It is not a personal thing, it is just that I have a squad that is strong enough to compete."

Wenger mentioned by name several of the young players he rates so highly, and pointed to two more, Andrey Arshavin and Thomas Vermaelen, to show that he does spend money on signings he believes will add quality to the squad. However, he argued that if he were to spend money on more star signings, they would swell the wage bill, and arrive at the expense of the players already competing for places.

"I do not spend money because out of tomorrow's squad is [Samir] Nasri, [Theo] Walcott, [Nicklas] Bendtner. And people want me to buy strikers, but where do I put them? I don't know. I have to then lose players who, for me, are world class."

The accounts scotch the speculation which has dogged Arsenal since the recession hit, that the Highbury Square development, which was intended to be a £100m profit-maker, had become a financial millstone. Despite the problems committed buyers have had raising mortgages since the onset of the credit crunch, Arsenal have now sold 445 of the 655 Highbury apartments. The debt on that property development, which stood at £133m six months ago, has been reduced to £47m and Arsenal have refinanced the loan to be repayable in December next year.

The position is now healthy enough for Arsenal's chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, presenting his first set of accounts since joining the club in January, to say confidently: "We anticipate it is likely we will make a profit out of that [Highbury Square] development, which will then be available to the football side. Exactly what the profit will be, and when it will be realised, will depend on the strength of the property market."

The previous record turnover for a British football club was earned by Manchester United, who made £256.2m in 2007-08, a figure Arsenal surpassed by almost £60m last year. As a football club, though, Arsenal, boosted by a consistently full Emirates Stadium, still fall £30m behind United; the record figure does include the exceptional £88m from the sale of the apartments.

Wenger's record as a prodigious earner, not spender, from transfers continued; the accounts record a £23.2m profit from the sales of Alexander Hleb and Justin Hoyteto Barcelona and Middlesbrough respectively, plus sell-on clauses for former players David Bentley and Lassana Diarra. The club's profit, added to the £42m received for Adebayor and Touré, is almost £80m, but it will not be burning a hole in Wenger's pocket. "I am very happy with the squad I have," Wenger concluded. "If in December we need to buy someone to add to the squad, I will do it."Yet with Arsenal having lost crucial matches at both City and United already this season, Wenger has yet to completely convince Arsenal fans and the football public that he squad does have the depth, and experience, to mount a convincing challenge for trophies.

Wenger's milestone, page 3