Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admits their wonderful victory over AC Milan last season may've sparked the threat of his team being dismantled by big-spending European rivals.

"That game in Milan did us a lot of good, but also some bad," Wenger said in the July issue of the official Arsenal magazine.

"Overall it was a convincing team performance and we gained a lot of credit all over the world through that game - but also maybe at that time a lot of clubs became interested in our players.

"This game for me unsettled our season. Many clubs do not work as well as we do, and do not give a chance to young players so they looked at the quality of team display in that game, and it attracted a lot of keen clubs.

"Others teams and agents started to look at our players, releasing stories into the press, and it had a disturbing influence on us.

"From then on there were always stories about better contracts on offer elsewhere and it could be said that it really disturbed inside the dressing room, but I think the team has learned to cope with it."

Wenger feels his young squad will be much 'stronger' from the experiences of last season.

He said: "The psychological side is part of the learning process. This is a young side, at the start of a cycle, and they have had to learn from all types of pressures - from the environment, from the press, from the games, and they will be stronger next year."