Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admits the transfer market has become more competitive in recent years.

Stressing that the job was tougher than when he arrived at Arsenal in September 1996, he admitted that the pressure is always on "to find the next Lionel Messi".

Wenger said: "People want to see the next Lionel Messi - they don't want to see a promising guy. The name of the player gives people hope, but when they haven't heard of them people are already sceptical.

"It's much more difficult for us now. The competition is higher. We are trying to diversify a bit more because we are limited in England. A new market that is very interesting is Japan - it's very competitive.

"The country where we were really competitive in the past was France, but they produce less top players than they did, say, 15 years ago.

"The emerging countries look to be Germany and Spain - they have taken over from France and they have many good, young players."