Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says England are now producing better players.

Jack Wilshere, Carl Jenkinson, Aaron Ramsey, Kieran Gibbs and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain signed new contracts on Wednesday and it was put to Wenger at his pre-match press conference that this illustrated a change of policy in his approach to squad-building.

"Not necessarily," replied the Frenchman. "It's just the coincidence that we have good, young English players.

"It's a deliberate policy because I bought Oxlade-Chamberlain for a lot of money because I know that it's important that we have good, young English players.

"The youth policy has improved in England and therefore we produce more good players in England. We try to take advantage of it."