ARSENAL are set to offer manager Arsene Wenger a new contract to keep him at the Emirates Stadium beyond the end of his current deal in 2014, chief executive Ivan Gazidis has revealed.With two years remaining on Wenger’s contract, speculation has surfaced over whether the long-serving manager will continue in north London when the deal expires.The Frenchman is the Gunners’ most successful post-war manager but has not led the club to trophy success in seven years.Gazidis insists 62-year-old Wenger, who took over in 1996, is key to Arsenal’s plans and says the club remain committed to winning silverware.He said in the Daily Mirror: “It’s not a sense of sentimentalism, not a reward for our services, it’s a belief that we have an incredible manager who loves this club and is the best man to lead us forward.Gazidis says when Wenger does eventually call time on management, he wants to make sure his successor retains the same values instilled at the club by the Frenchman.He added: “At the same time, as a club, we have to make sure that all of the things that Arsene has brought to the club are enshrined in our DNA to make sure that when the day comes when Arsene decides it’s time to hang up his boots - I don’t know what the expression is as a manager - that we are in a position to take his ideas and work forward.“The values that Arsene has brought to the club together with the values the club had before Arsene are what will inform us - and I don’t want to give any indication that this is happening - and give us the framework as to who might take over from him in the longer term.”The frustration of Arsenal fans has mounted during recent trophyless seasons but Gazidis insists winning silverware, as well as finishing in the Premier League top four, remain primary targets - even without key players such as Robin van Persie, who departed for Manchester United in the summer.
