Arsenal will give Arsene Wenger a £24million contract and a £100m transfer kitty in the next 72 hours after he ended the club’s nine-year trophy drought.
Wenger, who will sign a three-year deal worth in the region of £8m per season in wages, has been reinvigorated after watching his team beat Hull City 3-2 in Saturday’s FA Cup final. It was the fifth time he has lifted the trophy as Arsenal boss and he will now stay at the Emirates.
Asked if the new deal would be signed soon, the 64-year-old Frenchman said: ‘Yes — because I go to Brazil on June 10.’
The length of the deal is viewed as a statement of unwavering support from the club hierarchy, who will also give Wenger the biggest budget in Arsenal history to help him win the Premier League title for the first time since 2004.
Wenger’s priority is to convince right back Bacary Sagna and goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski to stay, but the manager has also identified three key areas to strengthen.
He wants a new striker, a holding centre midfielder and another right back. Bayern Munich’s Mario Mandzukic and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema are among his striker targets. Bayer Leverkusen’s Lars Bender and Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin are midfielders who have been watched extensively by Arsenal scouts.
Toulouse’s Serge Aurier, Southampton’s Calum Chambers and Manchester City’s Micah Richards are right back options.
Wenger said: ‘First we have to wait for Sagna and see what he will do — also Fabianski. After that we have to bring in two to three players to strengthen the squad.’
Sagna’s contract expires next month and he will hold talks with Manchester City this week over a four-year deal worth at least £100,000 a week. However, as MailOnline exclusively revealed on Saturday, Manchester United are keen to hijack City’s move.
Arsenal’s triumph was Wenger’s first trophy since a penalty shootout win against Manchester United in the 2005 FA Cup final.
He admitted: ‘I questioned myself because we live in a world where people always tell you what you haven’t done. They never say what you have done.
‘I believe the quality of the club is its consistency. Special players help you win trophies, but consistency is important. On that front, we’ve been better than everybody. Only two clubs in Europe have qualified for the Champions League for 17 seasons consecutively.
‘That consistency demands special values inside the club. I work seven days a week because I want to win. It’s difficult. Some clubs haven’t won a trophy for 20 years and they don’t get that question.
‘This is my 14th cup final and I fight very hard to win, doing everything every day of my life to try to win. If I don’t manage to do it, it’s not because of a lack of commitment. I try my best.’ – Daily Mail