Arsenal full-back Hector Bellerin has defended the club's transfer business, insisting success isn't a direct consequence of splashing the cash.

The Gunners broke their transfer record in the window to bring in Alexandre Lacazette, though the capture of Sead Kolasinac on a free was the only other business done by the team in the summer. Bellerin told the IB Times (h/t Alex Richards of the Daily Mirror) he doesn't agree with spending enormous amounts.

"Football is not just about spending money," said the right-back. "There are some clubs paying £100 million and £200 million on players, but I do not think that's the philosophy. The important thing is to build a good team, a good block and get results from there. Sometimes it takes time while other clubs use money. Each club has its own resources and its way of working."

The decision not to add more reinforcements to the Arsenal squad looked like a bad one late in the transfer window, especially with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain departing for Liverpool.

After all, the Gunners suffered back-to-back away losses before the deadline. The 1-0 defeat at Stoke City was disappointing, though the 4-0 capitulation at Anfield against Liverpool was extremely alarming for the club's supporters, with lessons seemingly not learned from previous seasons.

Nevertheless, Bellerin believes the team have what it takes to recover and still thinks they're capable of going on to win the Premier League title.

"If we did not think that we could win the title, what we would we be doing here? It would not make any sense," he said. "We train every day very hard to be able to win the Premier League. It has only been two bad games."

Although Bellerin dismissed suggestions of massive spending at Arsenal, on the final day of the transfer window they did almost pull off one of the biggest deals in the history of the game. According to Sky Sports, the Gunners offered a staggering £92 million for Monaco's young midfielder Thomas Lemar, although a transfer didn't come off.

As noted below, manager Arsene Wenger recently told Telefoot that Arsenal will try again for the Frenchman soon:

At the moment, it's tough to get on board with Bellerin's positive thinking about his team's title prospects, as Arsenal have come up consistently short in the race for the biggest honours in the past.

While they have some incredible attacking talent on their books—Alexis Sanchez still being at the club is a huge boost—so often they've lacked the cohesion and concentration needed to get through big matches. Neither Lacazette nor Kolasinac look capable of remedying those longstanding problems on their own.

Players such as Bellerin, his fellow defenders and shielding midfielders need to do more to make this team a tough one to beat in the key matches. With a trip to Stamford Bridge to come on Sunday to play Chelsea, Arsenal have the opportunity to show some strides have been made in that sense.