Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has defended the club's contract management.

Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Jack Wilshere are all seeing their deals run down, while Danny Welbeck and Aaron Ramsey have less than 18 months on their contracts.

Wenger said: “Honestly I believe, with inflation we have at the moment, players going to the end of the contract will happen more and more. For one simple reason, is that the transfers are too high.

“And if a player doesn't find a massive club, he will have to go [to the end], and even if you don't want to extend his contract, the players will want to go to the end of their contract.

“In the big clubs you are in a choice. You reduce the number of players or increase the wages trying to fight with massive clubs as the difference in wages between the big, big clubs financially, I speak, and us has become big. Massive."