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Arsenal Wenger is prepared to play a waiting game for Luis Suarez, writes John Cross in Saitama.

Wenger admits there is still a long way to go in their £40m pursuit of Suarez and the Arsenal manager tried to be coy with the potential transfer delicately poised.

Arsenal boss Wenger has already had a sensational and cheeky £40,000,001 bid turned down and it is now likely that Suarez will have to force the move and may have to ask for a transfer.

Wenger fears it will take time but insists the right deals will turn Arsenal into genuine title contenders next season after they made it four straight wins on the tour of Asia.

"We are ready to do quick deals but all the transfers do not depend only on us," said Wenger as he spoke about the transfer for the first time. "But we are prepared to wait. It looks unlikely before the Emirates Cup (next weekend).

"We still have a strong squad but we are there on the market to try to strengthen our team. With or without additions we can be title challengers next season."

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has insisted Suarez is not for sale and has even claimed that it would be a sideways step for him to join Arsenal.

Wenger refused to get into a war of words with Rodgers and said: "He must explain that. I don't know. We are not close to signing Suarez or anybody else so there's no reason why I should talk about it.

(Image: Getty)

"There is nothing to say. I have been away now for two or the weeks and it's hard to see how things are advanced because everyone is on tour at the moment and it's very difficult to get in touch with people.

"I believe that every club competes on a very high level. What has changed recently is that in Europe some countries like France suddenly have bought some very very talented players who two or three years ago would all have come to England. It makes the chase for talent very difficult.

"What we want is not as name but as good player. The name is less important. What is more important is the quality of the player. At the moment I must tell you we are not close to signing anybody.

"We try to do the job and we will try to do it well. But that is in front of us. We have worked a lot but nothing has been concluded with anybody.

"Of course we want to do as many top players as we can. But we also have to focus on the players we have and develop them. We have plenty of candidates in midfield now and there is a big fight there. Bacary Sagna settles in well at centre-back with Thomas Vermaelen out."

Arsenal yesterday beat Urawa Red Diamonds 2-1 thanks to goals from Lukas Podolski and Chuba Akpom to make it four straight wins in Asia.

But they looked jaded after 17 days away and now face Napoli in the Emirates Cup on Saturday which means a reunion with Rafa Benitez and Gonzalo Higuain - who so nearly joined Arsenal - will lead their attack after his transfer from Real Madrid.

(Image: REUTERS)

Wenger is confident that his team are in good shape with the season three weeks away after Jack Wilshere also came through yesterday's game with no ill effects after making his first start. Santi Cazorla will also join up with the squad this week.

Wenger said: "We've had two tough, full sessions in the last two days and we had to dig deep tonight to get through. That's part of pre-season. We still managed to create many chances but we are not as sharp physically as we can be.

"They were as well aggressive and made many fouled from behind. Wilshere got a lot of fouls but it was planned before the game to take him of at half-time.

"I don't have a problem with that. We wanted a competitive game and we got one. We saw overall a team who plays very deep defensively and comes out quickly so it was a good test for us.

"We are well advanced in our preparation. It depends now how we well we recover from this trip because it was very difficult and it will certainly take a few days to recover from that."