Arsene Wenger refuses to comment on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's talks with Arsenal hierarchy

With Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain reported to be meeting with the Arsenal hierarchy this afternoon, Wenger refused even to confirm the appointment let alone the subject matter.

“We all have our agendas that are quite busy but we do not publish them,” he said. “Some people look better informed than I am! My secretary has my agenda, I will check what I have to do today.”

Will Wenger also be checking with her for any bids on Oxlade-Chamberlain?

“I know every bid we have of course but the best for us is to focus on Sunday,” he replied by way of a no comment.

Undoubtedly, Wenger has the job of selling the club to the young England player – a task that has never been harder. No more guarantees of Champions League football. Only an outside hope of challenging for the title.

With Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil, Mathieu Debuchy and Kieran Gibbs also out of contract at the end of the season, Wenger is less likely to spend the final seven days of August transfer-window shopping as fending off cold-callers for the talent he already has.

Sanchez, he has already said, is going nowhere. But then he said that about Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, to name just a few.

Shkodran Mustafi is another being linked with a move away, and Wenger knows in the past he has had his fingers burned too many time to make any more bold proclamations.

“It’s difficult for me to speak about any individual cases because we are now in the final seven days of the transfer market,” Wenger said. “It’s always very difficult to predict what will happen there. You have to make quick and sharp decisions, and you cannot plan that and come out in the press conference with how you will respond to any solicitation.”

What Wenger can use press conferences for - and did – is to lay down the groundwork to those discussions with Oxlade-Chamberlain, whatever time they are pencilled in for.

“In all these conversations that I have, I say that I want him to stay and be one of the big players of the future of this club,” Wenger said. “He is one of the players this team has to be built around in the future. Personally I want him to commit to the club and to be one of the carriers of the values of our team.”

That is pretty clear. Interestingly, though, the question had not been about Wenger’s stance, but whether the player had given any indication that he wanted to stay. In that context, it sounded just a little bit needy.

Or perhaps, finally, Wenger had decided that going on the attack was an even better defence than simply avoiding the question.