Arsenal’s record-breaking accounts contain a cash surplus of £73.9 million, but the world’s leading football agents should not begin to get excited just yet. For all the riches at his disposal, Arsène Wenger has no immediate plans to dip into the club’s transfer kitty and will stick to his philosophy of developing young, hungry players.

Arsenal signed only four players during the close season, with their most important piece of business being completed when Wenger put pen to paper on a new contract this month. It was at a dinner date in a North London restaurant involving Peter Hill-Wood, the chairman, and Danny Fiszman, the leading shareholder, last June that the manager gave his word that he would sign a new deal, as well as outlining his plans for the next four years. Over lunch in the Arsenal boardroom yesterday, Hill-Wood relayed details of the conversation.

“Danny and I had dinner with Arsène in June,” he said. “Danny said, ‘What would you do if I gave you £100 million to spend?’ and Arsène said, ‘I would give it back to you.’ He has an economics degree from Strasbourg University and understands these things better than the board. He doesn’t want the club to go bankrupt.”

Arsenal are unlikely ever to encounter such problems, though a sense of prudence still runs through the club. Wenger got used to operating on a limited budget during the difficult period while the Emirates Stadium was being built but it reaped dividends, with a new focus on global scouting and youth development bringing in such talents as Cesc Fàbregas, Robin van Persie and Kolo Touré. With a good squad at his disposal, Wenger restricts himself to a handful of signings each year, though a new goalkeeper will become a priority before long.

“I will only spend if it is needed,” Wenger said. “The money is there to help you create a good team and when you feel you have a good team, you do not necessarily need to spend it. You need as well in a club like ours funds available in case of an emergency, in case of big injuries, or sometimes to make a quick buy, therefore you have to use the money as wisely as possible.

“Personally I’d rather just be top of the league, because finances usually follow the sporting side. We focus on what is important on the pitch, knowing that if we do that, finances will follow. I am happy we have a good operating profit because it shows that the turnover of this club is fantastic and that we have made the step forward by moving into the new stadium.”

For all the board’s vision in building a stadium that generated more than £90 million in match-day income alone last season, there is an acceptance that without Wenger the project could have been doomed.

Keith Edelman, the managing director, passed on a story yesterday about Wenger obsessively poring over scores of videos of promising Brazilian teenagers before finally finding one who caught his eye - Denilson – while Hill-Wood joked that without him, he would be tempted to end his family’s 78-year association with the club.

“I would have gone, too,” he said. “I do think about who would we replace Arsène with and I then shut the thought out of my mind because I have no idea. There aren’t many world-class managers and I think we have been extremely fortunate in having the best one there is.

“If we could find a mini-Arsène Wenger it would be wonderful. I personally have never enjoyed watching dull football. We did used to only win 1-0, but we are on a totally different level now and I have never enjoyed football more than I have in the past few years.”