Wenger's frugal approach may just give him the last laugh

Arsene Wenger has said that he does not want to get his club into debt to compete with the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea in the transfer market and he should be applauded for such a stance. However he is painted as a villain who lacks ambition in many quarters and that just sums up an attitude that has ruined the once beautiful game over the last few years.
Despite working with a budget far less then all of his main competitors Wenger has managed to keep the club in the top four of the Premier League and reach the latter stages of the Champions League for the last five seasons.
So while City have spent obscene amounts of money trying to break into the top four Wenger has maintained his position while building a talented young side who have been regularly challenging for the major honours.
Of course success is often based on trophies won but that depends on your perspective. The game has changed since Wenger won seven major trophies in his first 8 years at the club and despite not lifting any silverware since 2005 you could not say Arsenal have been unsuccessful.
Consecutive top four finishes, regular title challenges, a Champions League final, a Carling Cup final, numerous cup semi finals and all achieved playing a wonderful brand of attacking football that only Barcelona can match. 99% of clubs in this country would be more then happy with that.
Wenger quickly dismantled the Invincibles team in the wake of a poor showing in the 2005 FA Cup final and replaced them with younger, cheaper talent. Yes the trophies have stopped but while Liverpool have slipped out of the top four Arsenal remain the only serious challengers to Chelsea and Manchester United despite both having spent much more in the transfer market and, crucially, on wages.
Wenger realised early on that with the move to the Emirates looming he was unable to keep up with the spending power of Chelsea under Abramovich, and to a lesser extent United under the Glazers, so he changed his approach. Yes it has meant that titles and cups are now harder to come by but anything he does win in the future will be so much more worthy as he will have built it on the cheap.
With wealthy foreign owners now popping up all over the place it will be even harder for Wenger to maintain the level of results he has enjoyed in recent years, and many fear Arsenal will be left behind, but it would be foolish to write them off just yet. Wenger has faced these challenges head on in the past and he will continue to do so. Splashing the cash does not guarantee success, as we are currently seeing at City, so while others are risking the very future of their clubs Arsenal may just benefit from Wenger's frugal approach when the financial bubble finally bursts. And who will be laughing then??