ARSENAL TALK: Wenger wont be drawn on Barry move

11:09am Thursday 24th July 2008

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ARSENE WENGER has refused to confirm or deny whether his one remaining piece in the midfield jigsaw will be Aston Villa's Gareth Barry.

The French boss admitted he was looking for at least one more player to come in to the Gunners midfield, after seeing a trio of established players leave the Emirates this summer.

Last season's find of the year Mathieu Flamini was snapped up by AC Milan, Gilberto moved to Greek side Panathanikos and Alexander Hleb completed his long-awaited move to Barcelona last week.

Despite the arrivals of 17-year-old central midfielder Aaron Ramsey and winger Samir Nasri, Wenger recognises that he is still light in the centre, with Abou Diaby the only obvious candidate to partner Cesc Fabregas when the season kicks off.

Villa's Barry has been mentioned in recent weeks, although he is still the number one transfer target of Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez and the 27-year-old has admitted that he is keen on a move to Anfield.

But if Wenger does have Barry under his radar, he is keeping quiet, and refused to be drawn on the rumours.

"We will need one more body in there," said Wenger. "If we find a reasonable target then we'll do it but there is no special name on the list."