Amid a protest from supporters, Arsene Wenger talked about his own loyalty to Arsenal.

Wenger said he rejected offers from several elite clubs while Arsenal went through their period of servicing debt due to the construction of the Emirates Stadium.

“When we built the stadium the banks demanded I signed for five years,” he said. “I did it. Do you want me to tell you how many clubs I turned down during that period? I have shown I am committed.”

Wenger rejected Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City.

“The banks wanted the technical consistency to guarantee we had a chance to pay back [the loan],” he said. “I did commit and I stayed, under very difficult circumstances. So for me to find [his critics] are reproaching me for not winning the championship during that period I think is a bit overboard. I accept criticism but I think that it is a bit too far.

“When we built the stadium, we knew we’d have five to seven difficult financial years where we had to pay the money back: we had to be three years in the Champions League out of five and have an average of 54,000 people [to meet costs], and we didn’t know we would be capable of that. We had to sell our best players every year to survive but we didn’t do three years out of five in the Champions League. We did five out of five. Now the club is in a stronger position and we can compete again with our main opponents.”