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LONDON. — Arsene Wenger claims he doesn’t blame contract rebels —Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez —for holding out for more money. Arsenal have been trying to tie both stars to new deals for weeks. The duo are heading towards the last 18 months of their current contracts, but so far neither has committed their future to the Gunners.

Wenger joked at the weekend the club would need “a good bank” to satisfy Ozil, who is one of EIGHT first team players coming up for renewal.But the Gunners boss has backed the stance of his two biggest stars, saying: “I blame nobody. If you were a player you would try the same. You try to earn as much as you can.

“Honestly my whole life I fight to get the players paid as much as I can. I want as well to be responsible, to pay them the money you can afford to pay.”

But Wenger believes a serious challenge for trophies will go a long way towards convincing influential winger Sanchez and midfielder Ozil to sign new long-term deals at the club.

Ozil and Sanchez have entered the last 18 months of their current contracts at the Emirates Stadium and will hope to secure hefty pay rises to their reported 140 000 pounds per week salaries to stay beyond 2018.

Wenger admitted that while the financial aspects of contract negations were important, it was Arsenal’s on-field progress that would prove decisive.

“I think these kind of players can raise a little bit above the financial aspect of the game because they are not poor and they have to look really at the football side,” the 66-year-old said.

“It is more about whether the club can meet their needs on the football front. If ‘yes’ then a Premier League club can find an agreement with the players. We still keep values we have at the club, of course, and we pay what we can afford.”

Chile international Sanchez has scored five goals in 10 appearances in all competitions this season, while Germany’s Ozil has chipped in with several decisive goals, including the winner against Swansea City last weekend.

Arsenal have won two FA Cups since the 28-year-old Ozil arrived from Real Madrid in 2013, while the 27-year-old Sanchez has one FA Cup winner’s medal to his name after moving to North London from Barcelona a year later.

“We still have a scale of wages . . . But don’t worry, they are all paid well. It’s normal players try to get the maximum out of the negotiations. They have to feel you meet their needs at the club and they get paid for it,” Wenger added.

Arsenal have a glut of contracts to renegotiate this season. Santi Cazorla and Per Mertesacker are free agents next summer and can expect only one-year extensions as they are over 30. But along with Ozil and Sanchez, the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Olivier Giroud, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Kieran Gibbs are all out of contract by June 2018.

Oxlade-Chamberlain has already suggested he might have to quit the club next summer if he doesn’t get more playing time this season.

But Wenger said: “He didn’t say that. He said he will consider the situation at the end of the season. That is completely different.

“I think his place is here. We like him. I personally rate him as a player and I hope that he will show that he can have a stable position in the team until the end of the season.

“This season he has been similar to (Theo) Walcott. He has not got rewarded yet. But he is in a similar position because he has worked really hard.”

But asked whether he’d be willing to let any of his players go into the final year of their contracts without having their future sorted, Wenger said: “Ideally no. But that is why we negotiate before.

“They have to feel that you meet their needs at the club and they get paid for it. Do the club meet their needs on the football front?

“If ‘yes’ then a Premier League club can find an agreement with the players. We still keep values we have at the club we pay what we can afford.” — The Daily Star.