ARSENAL boss Arsene Wenger has admitted he is formulating his transfer plans for the close season, but is intent on keeping the current squad together.

"Slowly, yes, we will get there," Wenger told Arsenal TV Online.

"I have said many times and I will repeat that, even if you go through a difficult patch, my first target is to keep the team together and when that job is done I can go somewhere else and look, but I have not completed that job at the moment."

Wenger also expressed his admiration for Lyon midfielder Hatem Ben Arfa, although the Frenchman stopped short of registering an interest in buying the 21-year-old French left-winger.

"He's a player I have known for a long, long time and that I rate, but I have never heard from Lyon that he is for sale. I just wanted to say (in a recent interview with the French press) that for me, he is a good player with a great talent."