Arsenal 'have £200m in the bank and can buy almost anyone they want'

The Carpetright founder told the Daily Mail that the financial hangover from building the Emirates Stadium is now over and Wenger has the funds to make a big splash in the transfer market - if he wants to.

"Money was tight when we moved to the Emirates but it's a lot freer now," he said.

"We could go into the market and probably buy any player in the world, apart from half a dozen who are unbuyable. In the accounts, there's over £200 million in the bank. You could say to Arsene we've got no money and he wouldn't worry, or you could give him £100m and he might not spend it."

He added: "We would back him to break the club's transfer record. If he wanted the man, he could have him. Apart from Messi and Ronaldo, he could have any player."

Arsenal have been linked with a move for Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema in recent weeks, although Wenger himself has played down talk of a move for the France international.

Although he said "at the moment there are no plans to sign anyone", Lord Harris also teased that the Arsenal boss has an eye on reinforcements up front and the north London club will have to spend big to get his target.

"We get a list of the players that Wenger wants," he said. "On the list is a centre-forward, but I'm not going to tell you who he is.

"You've got to get the other team to want to sell him, but I think he wants to come. It basically comes down to whether the other team can find a superstar to replace him, because they don't have to sell."

Harris also waded in on Raheem Sterling, who moved to Manchester City despite rumoured interest from Arsenal.

"Sterling is a very, very good player but I'm very pleased Arsenal didn't sign him," said Harris. "He's got a lot to learn. They were looking at him and the way he treated Liverpool wasn't good. Arsene does a lot of work on the players before they get to us and he doesn't take any nonsense."

The Arsenal director also spoke about Arsene Wenger's future - a hot topic, given recent questions over his retirement that Wenger himself brushed away earlier this week.

"I see no reason why Arsene shouldn't stay beyond his contact, if he wants to," said Harris. "I'm sure we will want him to stay, because he's a good manager and the players respect him. Two or three years ago, when the crowd came after him, you could tell he was concerned but I wouldn't say he came close to leaving.

"He's exactly the same as what you see in the media – bright, determined and very conscientious about his players. He's so fit and motivated that we hope he stays longer. Even through our bad years, we always played nice football. Now, with a bit of luck around injuries, I think we can challenge strongly for the Premier League and the Champions League."

As wide-ranging as interviews get, Lord Harris covered a huge amount of ground in this chat with the Daily Mail - and on the whole, Arsenal fans will be happy with what they have heard. Yet a more critical reader might worry at a certain complacency, even self-satisfaction in what Harris said: at one point, he referred rather smugly to "the Arsenal way", for example.

And any sense of self-congratulation is totally inappropriate from a club the size of Arsenal who have gone a decade without mounting a serious challenge for the Premier League. Since finishing runners-up in 2005, Arsenal have never finished higher than third - and even that they've only managed four times in 10 seasons. Still, maybe that will change if Wenger does manage to use some of that £200m to land Benzema this summer.