Wenger puts new appointment on hold

ARSENAL boss Arsene Wenger is likely to wait until the Premier League season starts before appointing a director of football.

Wenger has been looking for a new man to work with since the departure of David Dein as vice-chairman in April but is willing to wait in an attempt to keep a settled atmosphere over the summer.

Club scout Gilles Grimandi is considered the front-runner for the new post, with Reading’s Nicky Hammond also suggested as a suitable candidate. In the meantime, long-serving Arsenal director Ken Friar has been working with Wenger.

“I wanted to do it before the end of the season when I started buying and selling,” said Wenger. “But then I thought that now is the worst time because I have no time to tell someone how I want to do things.

“I did not want to unsettle the team before the end of the transfer market. So at the moment I work with Ken Friar and it is working well for us.”

Part of Dein’s role at Arsenal was to do, as Wenger called it, the “ugly part” in transfer negotiations. He formed a link between the boardroom and the dressing room and his departure was one of the reasons Thierry Henry cited when leaving the club for Barcelona, claiming the team and manager had been “destabilised”.

Lukasz Fabianski, Eduardo Da Silva, Havard Nordtveit and Bacary Sagna have arrived in the summer as Arsenal plan for the post-Henry era, although the most important signing would be for Wenger to agree a new contract.

The Frenchman’s current deal expires at the end of the coming season, with negotiations under way.

“For me, I think he will stay,” said defender Kolo Toure. “Mr Wenger brings something special to this club and to keep him would be a great thing. We need to win some trophies and I’m sure Mr Wenger will bring lots of trophies to the club.”

Despite Henry’s departure and suggestions this could be the season when Arsenal could slip out of the top four for the first time under Wenger, there remains optimism among the players remaining.

“We have all progressed mentally,” said defender Toure. “We know what was wrong last season and have worked on it. We are focused and we know we can do something.

“We can only get better. When you are young you learn from your mistakes — next season we will be better than last season, you will see a different team.”

Toure believes Arsenal will remain focused despite the loss of Henry. “Titi (Henry) was our captain. When you miss someone very important from your family you are always sad but that is part of the job,” said Toure.