Arsene Wenger: I won't be forced into spending to win Champions League for Arsenal

Arsene Wenger claims Arsenal can win the Champions League - playing the right way and without spending megabucks.

In fact, the Gunners boss is adamant that if a big-money buyer took over his club and launched his own recruitment drive, Wenger would walk away.

He said: "What is very important for me is that I decide who we buy and not somebody else. I am not against money but I feel I should decide what happens on the technical front.

"It looks like managers have less of a say but I will go my way if that happened. You can buy the players who can win you the Champions League but you can't buy the trophy. If you could there would be a big queue after it.

"It would also take a lot of the charm out of the Champions League.

"These people have to understand that you can have 20 trillionaires in the Premier League and one will still finish bottom. And only one will win the league!"

Wenger, whose side start their Euro campaign against Dinamo Kiev on Wednesday, went on: "I think we can win the Champions League because of the strength of my players and the strength of my team. I want to show that I am right for the way I run this club and what we have been building.

"We now have a different policy which is very difficult to change. We have gone that way and now we must push it through, no matter what people say.

"That is not linked with money, it's more linked with our strength and capability to keep the team together.

"I can't deny that this will demand money - if we want to keep good players we can't keep them at lower wages than five or six other clubs."

The current Arsenal board respect Wenger's demand for total control of playing issues. But the prospect of foreign owners making demands, even beyond which players to buy or sell, does trouble the Frenchman.

He added: "Foreign owners bring their own culture and that doesn't just affect the managers but also many other aspects of the game.

"It will be far more dangerous if they are picking the team.

"The only thing I regret is that the money coming into a club like Manchester City makes things a bit more difficult. Our environment rules us out because we don't behave the same way.

"They sell the story to our fans that because we don't buy players for £135m, we cannot win. We have to be strong enough to say yes, we can win.

"As it is our place in the Champions League is already in jeopardy, as it is for Manchester United and Liverpool, because you have to finish in the top three."