Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is confident that captain Cesc Fabregas will stay at the Premier League club for "for a few more years."
Arsenal rejected a series of bids from Barcelona in the offseason before the Spain midfielder pledged his immediate future to the London club following talks with Wenger.
"I am not pessimistic about him, and I am confident we will keep him for a few more years," Wenger told the club's shareholders Thursday at their annual general meeting.
Fabregas is under contract until 2015, while Wenger signed a new deal in August tying him to the club until June 2014.
"I convinced him to stay at this club," Wenger said. "If he did not love it, he would have gone. You also have to remember that Barcelona has an attraction, because he grew up there, but I believe he wants to win with this club. I do not know for how long he wants to stay, but hopefully it will be for many years."
The shareholders, many of whom are fans, peppered Wenger with questions about players and tactics. But when asked by one if he would be interested in signing Wayne Rooney from Manchester United, Wenger deflected the topic by saying "it's too sensitive to talk about it."
Much of the discussion centered on Arsenal's defensive and goalkeeping frailties. Despite consistently reaching the latter stages of major competitions, Arsenal hasn't won a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup, while its last Premier League title came a year earlier.
"I do not say there are no weaknesses, we are conscious of that, but we work very hard," said Wenger, who turns 61 on Friday. "We are fans. We love the club. We want to get higher than last year. The only way we can do this is to trust the players and get behind them.
"They have great potential, but we live in a very fragile business, where it is very difficult to be consistent. What we want now is to get that little bit extra which makes us winners."
Arsenal recorded pretax profits of 56 million pounds (then $88 million) for the year ending May 31, while clearing 130 million pounds of debt from the property development on the site of its former stadium. Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood told the shareholders that "we have not deprived Arsene of money."
Still, Wenger's attempts to sign a new goalkeeper in the offseason failed, leaving him with the error-prone Manuel Almunia as the first choice.
The loss of experienced defenders William Gallas, Sol Campbell and Mikael Silvestre in the offseason also left Arsenal short of options at the back, especially with Wenger still uncertain when center back Thomas Vermaelen will return from an Achilles' injury.
"We have still resources available to bring one or two players in if needed in January," Wenger said. "But you have seen when you look at the other clubs it's fragile everywhere and they are in a situation where the players want to be at the top level.
"We had some players going out in the summer and we have decided to give confidence to the young players at the club. Why? Because they have a special culture of playing the game and can integrate very quickly."
