×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Wenger gets new £24m contract deal, £100m transfer kitty

Sport
LONDON — Arsenal will hand Arsene Wenger a £24 million contract and £100 million transfer kitty in the next 72 hours

LONDON — Arsenal will hand Arsene Wenger a £24 million contract and £100 million transfer kitty in the next 72 hours after he ended the club’s nine-year trophy drought.

Sportsmail understands Wenger’s will sign a three-year deal worth in the region of £8 million-per-season in wages.

And he will be given the biggest transfer budget in Arsenal history to help him win the Premier League title for the first time since 2004.

Wenger has been re-invigorated after watching his team beat Hull City in Saturday’s FA Cup final — the fifth time he has lifted the trophy as Arsenal boss — and will now stay at the Emirates.

Asked if the new deal would be signed soon, he said: “Yes — because I go to Brazil on June 10.”

The length of the deal is viewed as a significant statement of unwavering support from the club’s hierarchy. And they will also give Wenger the all clear to go on an unprecedented spending spree this summer to ensure the club build upon their FA Cup success.

Wenger will have £100m to spend on transfers and wages. His priority is to convince full-back Bacary Sagna and keeper Lukasz Fabianski to stay at the club, but the Arsenal manager has also identified three key areas to strengthen this summer.

He wants a new striker, a holding centre-midfielder and a right-back.

Bayern Munich’s Mario Mandzukic and Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema are among Wenger’s top striker targets.

Bayer Leverkusen’s Lars Bender and Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin are midfielders who have been watched extensively by the Gunners scouts, while Toulouse’s Serge Aurier, Southampton’s Calum Chambers and Manchester City’s Micah Richards are right-back options should Sagna depart.

Wenger said: “First we have to wait for Sagna and see what he will do — also Fabianski. After we have to bring in two to three players to strengthen the squad, that’s for sure.

“Unfortunately, everywhere we go, there are many teams on the market at the moment.’

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-per-week.

However, as MailOnline exclusively revealed on Saturday, Manchester United are keen to hijack City’s move for the right-back.

Arsenal’s triumph on Saturday was Wenger’s first trophy since Patrick Vieira struck the winning spot kick in a penalty shootout against Manchester United in the 2005 FA Cup final at the Millennium Stadium.

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.” — Daily Mail