Arsene Wenger will stick to his philosophy of not over-spending at Arsenal, even if it means the likely exit of Robin Van Persie.
Arsenal are set to lose their club captain after last year's leading scorer revealed he would not sign a new contract in a message on his official website. That move has forced Arsenal to find a suitor and in the process also brought down Van Persie's value on the transfer market considerably.
The Gunners lost the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri last season and Wenger admitted while such exits hurt, he would not change his style of management.
Wenger said he looks up to the policies set up by Johan Cruyff. The Dutch legend laid the foundations at Ajax Amsterdam and turned them into a force in the early 1990s. He was also instrumental in turning Barcelona into the world force they are now, by inculcating the style, which is currently a rage, at their La Masia academy.
Cruyff is a big believer of garnering success through a good youth set-up and by bringing in talented young players and grooming them into world beaters.
While Wenger said he is trying to take that same path, he admitted his work had been made difficult by the departures of his players, he put so much time to develop, in their prime.
"I totally agree with Cruyff -- and I won't change," Wenger is quoted as saying by The Sun.
"The only sad thing is that sometimes your work is destroyed by others.
"You want to see a player in his prime doing it for your club. But it does not work like that all the time.
"I am a victim of that. I lost Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy and Cesc Fabregas at an age where they should have been playing their best football for Arsenal. But I never left the club when I could have.
"I could have left 10 times to join another club but I didn't because I have worked with the same vision and philosophy at Arsenal for the last 16 years -- and that won't change.
"Besides, money was never a motivation for me.
"And, in a similar way, people like Cruyff don't put all their energy in building teams with young players just for the money.
"We all do this because we want to give something back to the game."
Despite his best efforts, Wenger is likely to be without their best player of last season. Van Persie was not convinced to stay even though Arsenal have made two key signing in Lukas Podolski and Olivier Giroud for a combined £24 million ($37 million).
Wenger admitted to being disappointed by Van Persie's decision.
"The emotion is over-ruling analysis now. Every word is being enlarged to ridiculous heights.
"Millions of people have an opinion now on it all."
