Arsene Wenger has ruled out a January bid for Southampton midfielder Victor Wanyama.

The Arsenal boss has been linked with a move for the former Celtic player in various newspapers on Friday, but while Wenger admitted he is a fan of Wanyama, he dismissed the speculation.

However, Wenger, who was speaking ahead of Arsenal’s trip to Aston Villa on Super Sunday, said he may look to do some business when the transfer market opens again after Christmas.

“I rate the player but we are not on the case,” he said. “We will be out there and see what we can do. But at the moment we have the whole of December to go and we are in a good position in the Premier League.

Arsene Wenger says Arsenal are not looking to sign Victor Wanyama

“At the moment it is important we don’t lose more players because we are short and that everybody contributes fully, like they did on Wednesday and Saturday, so we can have consistency until January.”

Arsenal sit two points behind Claudio Ranieri’s table-topping Leicester side heading into the weekend fixtures and Wenger believes there could be up to eight teams competing for the title this year with the eventual winners amassing fewer points.