Arsene Wenger was in an upbeat mood despite seeing Arsenal throw away a two-goal lead to allow Boca Juniors to steal a 2-2 draw in their Emirates Cup encounter.

Having identified a central defender as the main priority in his summer transfer plans, Wenger has so far yet to land his man, after having a bid Phil Jagielka rebuffed by Everton, while Arsenal are yet to make official offers for Bolton's Gary Cahill and Blackburn's Christopher Samba.

And Wenger's inability to land reinforcements in defence could just come back to haunt him this season, if Saturday's encounter against Boca is anything to go by.

Despite going 2-0 up after well-taken goals from Robin van Persie and Aaron Ramsey, defensive lapses allowed Boca to hit back and force a draw.

Nonetheless, Wenger insists he sees no reason to get overly concerned with Arsenal's defensive frailities.

"You never want to concede goals, but overall I do not give too much importance to that," Wenger said on Arsenal's official website.

"What is important for us is to find a collective rhythm. When we could, we managed to play at a good pace for 60 minutes, after [that] it was much more difficult.

"It was expected, we came back from a training camp in Germany with heavy work, and I knew that the second half would be much more difficult."

Wenger was quick to praise Arsenal's opponents on Saturday, who he admits caught them napping late on in the game.

"Boca Juniors are a good team and we got caught counter-attacking when we were 2-0 up and we tried to build up the game, but when you are tired you miss some passes and we were a bit more under threat."

Nonetheless, Wenger believes there are plenty of positives to take out from Saturday's draw - one being another impressive performance from summer signing Gervinho, who laid on an assist for Van Persie's opener.

"[What I learned is] that we can score goals, and Gervinho is a good addition to our squad.

"He is very interesting because he gives us options on both sides and through the middle. He can integrate well with our team."

Despite captain Cesc Fabregas being absent from the game in light of increasing uncertainty over his future, Wenger remains open to the possibility of him staying, and confirms Arsenal will not sell for any price as long as the Spanish international wants to stay at the Emirates Stadium.

"If Fabregas is committed to this club and wants to stay, no money will get him out of here.

"We are not in a position where we need to sell our players.

"We want to keep our players. We are not looking for money."

Arsenal will play their second Emirates Cup tie against New York Red Bulls on Sunday, before they end their pre-season campaign against Benfica on August 6.

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp announced his interest in signing the 23-year-old after his side’s 3-2 friendly win at Brighton on Saturday, claiming chairman Daniel Levy was taking care of negotiations.

The north London club had been linked with a £19 million move for the former Real Madrid youngster in order to beat rivals Arsenal to his signature, but Valencia have yet to receive an official offer for their prized asset.

Redknapp will have a tough fight on his hands to persuade Mata to move to White Hart Lane and although Valencia remain in a delicate economic situation, the club have promised coach Unai Emery a competitive team for the coming campaign and Mata is a big part of those plans.

Emery, president Manuel Llorente and sporting director Braulio Vazquez have all claimed the forward is not for sale, although the latter revealed on Thursday that alternative plans were in place should Mata be sold.

Meanwhile, Mata himself has stated repeatedly that he is keen to stay at Mestalla and only signed a new contract last summer with the buy-out clause set at a massive £52.5m.

However, a gentleman’s agreement was reached for the player to leave for between £17.5m and £22m, although the player’s performances at the European Under-21 Championships mean Valencia are now asking for a sum closer to the latter.

Spurs, currently, are the only club prepared to meet Valencia’s asking price, although no bids have yet been made – despite considerable interest in Mata.

The player’s father and agent is in contact with several sides, though, and is said to have met representatives from Tottenham in London recently.

But Spurs’ tight wage structure and lack of Champions League football make any possible deal difficult, with Mata only likely to leave Valencia to sign for one of Europe’s elite clubs.

At the moment, he sees Valencia, one of Spain’s top teams and an established Champions League outfit, as a superior side to Spurs, who dropped out of the top four last season following their first-ever qualification for European football’s premier club competition the year before.

Given a chance to further his career in the Premier League, then, Mata would almost certainly choose Arsenal over Tottenham, a source close to the player revealed to Goal.com, while out of a straight selection between Spurs and Valencia, the player would opt to stick with the Spanish side for at least one more season.