It was not what Arsène Wenger envisaged - losing Mathieu Flamini, the France midfield player, before the last ball of this season had been kicked - but the Arsenal manager promised yesterday that he will not contemplate the loss of any of his other crown jewels. There will, he said, be no mass exodus from the Emirates Stadium.

Wenger has bitten the bullet over Flamini, who has signed a four-year deal with AC Milan. His contract was due to expire and, despite having considered the offer of a pay rise to about £40,000 a week at the North London club, he chose to exercise his rights under the Bosman ruling. Flamini left for Italy on a free transfer.

However, with Inter Milan courting Alexander Hleb, the Belarus midfield player, and Real Madrid chasing Cesc Fàbregas, the Spain midfield player, Wenger has issued a rallying call to his troops. “I hope that 95 per cent of the team, the core, says, ‘Come on. We have only just lost,'” he said.

Wenger was referring to narrow defeats by Manchester United and Chelsea in the Barclays Premier League that effectively cost Arsenal a tilt at the title. He also included the 5-3 aggregate defeat by Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the Champions League. “It is only just' because we were leading at United, we were leading at Chelsea and we were leading at Liverpool,” Wenger said. “Every time, we lost a little bit of focus and lost the game. Let's come back and show that we are winners. That is the real target of the team.”

Wenger's plea became impassioned. “We were close this year, but we did not win,” he said. “What I expect from my team is that, if you are a winner, you say, ‘Let's come back next year and win.' If our players are not capable of doing that and just want to walk out for the bigger contracts, that would be the biggest disappointment for me.”

Real's admiration of Fàbregas has been confirmed by Ramón Calderón, the club's president. “If we receive any indication from the player that he wants to leave Arsenal, then we will negotiate without limits,” Calderón said.

While it would appear to be an attempt to “tap up” Fàbregas, 21, it is unlikely that Arsenal will take the matter farther. Calderón's comments are deemed “not helpful”, but Fàbregas signed a new contract in October 2006 that will keep him at the club until 2014. Wenger is confident that the Spaniard's head will not be turned by promises of riches elsewhere.

In the case of Hleb, 27, Wenger is more concerned. The Belarussian has almost served the third year of his five-year deal and, under a little-known and little-used Fifa ruling, he could buy out the remainder of his contract. “What people say about the buy-out clause is not as simple as it [appears],” Wenger said.

Arsenal are considering making a formal complaint to Fifa, the sport's world governing body, over Inter's overt interest in Hleb. “We want to keep him, we want him to be part of our team next season,” Wenger said. “We have lost one player [Flamini] and we do not want to lose more.”

In the past, Arsenal have been able to pay better wages to players by taking advantage of tax loopholes. However, since Revenue & Customs tightened up its procedures, paying part of a player's wages into overseas accounts, thereby reducing the tax liabilities, has been outlawed.

The club do not have the highest pay structure, either. “The salaries on offer, it is a problem,” Wenger said. “But we did not master this situation with Flamini because when a player is out of contract, he can sign where he wants. Legally he can do it.”

Play as you earn

Barclays Premier League clubs aim to spend less than half their turnover on the wages of their players and staff. This is part of the reason why Arsenal were unwilling to break their wage structure and pay more than £40,000 a week to keep Mathieu Flamini at the club.

Manchester United (figures to end of 2007)

Turnover £210m Wages £91.56m Ratio 43.6 per cent Top earners Cristiano Ronaldo (£120,000 a week), Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand (£100,000) Average earners Wes Brown and Edwin van der Sar (£50,000)

Chelsea (figures to end of 2007)

Turnover £190.5m Wages £135m Ratio 71 per cent (down from 76 a year earlier) Top earner John Terry (£135,000) Average earner Shaun Wright-Phillips (£60,000)

Arsenal (figures to end of 2007)

Turnover £177m (excluding £23m from property investment) Wages £89.7m Ratio 50.6 Top earner William Gallas (£60,000) Average earner Emmanuel Adebayor £35,000

Liverpool (figures to end 2006)

Turnover £119.5m Wages £68.87m Ratio 57.63 Top earners Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres (£100,000) Average earners Xabi Alonso and José Manuel Reina (£60,000)

Explore Football

• Premier League

• Football League

• Scotland

• European Football

• International Football

• Live Match Tracker

• The Fink Tank

• Fantasy Football