It showed Wenger exactly where his team stands.

It displayed the gulf between the best in Europe and a team who indisputably are the most pleasing on the eye in the Premier League.

It proved if Wenger wants to win the top prizes he needs to spend. And the signs are that at last that penny might have dropped.

"We have to add something, for sure," said Wenger after generously praising Barcelona for another mighty performance which saw Lionel Messi score all four goals in a 4-1 second-leg triumph at the Nou Camp. "But we have some time to think about that."

It was the first time Wenger had appeared to accept he could not mix it with the very best by relying on the group of youngsters he has nurtured at the Emirates Stadium.

That is a major admission for a manager who down the years has almost appeared to deem getting out the cheque book, even when cash has been readily available, as a form of cheating.

Wenger sees management as an art. Anyone can buy, not anyone can spot talent and improve it until it commands fortunes on the transfer market.

His brush with Barcelona, however, might just have changed his mind.

The most admirable aspect of the Spanish team's success is it has been achieved with players they have brought through themselves. Stars such as Messi, who moved from Argentina to Europe with his family in 2000 when Barcelona offered treatment for a growth hormone deficiency.

Stars such as 19-year-old Bojan Krcic, who has been on Barcelona's books for 10 years.

Men, too, such as Xavi Hernandez, who joined Barcelona as an 11-year-old and captain Carles Puyol, who has been at the club 15 years after being nurtured as a teenager.

That is the Barcelona way. It is the Wenger way too, ensuring the club from academy to first team is infused with one footballing identity.

The difference with Barcelona is they are also capable of blending crucial marquee signings with their home-bred stars.

They are not afraid of backing their talent with cash such as the deal which brought striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the Nou Camp.

Eyebrows were raised in the summer when Barcelona went for the 29-year-old Swedish striker, throwing in Samuel Eto'o as bait in a deal worth around £62m, the third highest transfer in football history.

But Ibrahimovic has scored 20 goals in 34 matches, two of them crucially in the first leg against Barcelona at the Emirates. Contrast that with Arsenal's Nicklas Bendtner this season who has scored 11 in 26.

While cultivating one's own talent is the way forward in football's increasingly money-obsessed world, the top prizes invariably go to those also prepared to invest in big signings.

Of course, Bendtner is only 22. So is Samir Nasri and Denilson and the injured Cesc Fabregas. Meanwhile, Abou Diaby is 23 while Theo Walcott turned 21 last month.

Arsenal's side is young and precocious, there is much room for improvement and Wenger was correct when he observed: "What we did was very positive...we had plenty of opportunities but showed we lacked maturity in the weight of the final ball."

But that is the point. Maturity and leadership. That is what Arsenal are lacking. They are qualities worth paying for.