Gunners unlikely to seal Mata deal

ARSENAL manager Arsene Wenger will step up his summer recruitment drive ahead of the start of pre-season training next week, but reported target Juan Mata insists he is happy to stay put at Valencia.

The Gunners have so far only confirmed the arrival of promising young defender Carl Jenkinson in a £1 million (€1.1m) deal from Charlton.

However, Wenger is keen to further bolster a squad which again failed to deliver a trophy last season, imploding on all fronts after a shock defeat to Birmingham in the Carling Cup final at Wembley.

While the futures of captain Cesc Fabregas, Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy remain uncertain, Arsenal are expected to push through a deal for Bolton’s England defender Gary Cahill, with unsettled Denmark striker Nicklas Bendtner a possible makeweight to help match differing valuations.

Lille suggest Arsenal are yet to formalise their interest in £10m-rated Ivory Coast forward Gervinho, whose preferred destination is the Emirates Stadium, and Argentina youngster Ricky Alvarez is another on Wenger’s radar along with Bayer Leverkusen’s Chile midfielder Arturo Vidal.

The addition of Southampton starlet Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is expected to be confirmed at the start of July ahead of Arsenal’s Far East tour, which includes games in Malaysia and China.

However, Spain midfielder Mata maintains his only focus is on achieving more success at Valencia rather than a £20m move to Arsenal.

The 23-year-old is planning to take some time off after helping the U21s win the European Championship in Denmark.

He said: “I just want to disconnect. I am not thinking about my future. My contract runs until 2015 and let’s hope my next trophy is with Valencia.”

Meanwhile former Arsenal director Lady Bracewell-Smith feels the current Gunners board needs to be more “proactive”.

Bracewell-Smith left the north London club in December 2008 and in April sold her 15.9% holding to Stan Kroenke, which paved the way for the American to launch a full-blown takeover.

However, she remains unimpressed with events behinds the scenes at Emirates Stadium.

Writing on Twitter, she said: “In time we will need a more dynamic proactive younger board, and a good directional leadership.”

No official reason was given for her departure from the board, but Bracewell-Smith added: “[They] couldn’t handle a woman with power on the board. Felt insecure. Male chauvinism.”

Bracewell-Smith claimed she was “caught in the crossfire” of a “war” between former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, who left the club in 2007, and the late director Danny Fiszman.

Bracewell-Smith rejected calls from some fans for the return of Dein, linked to Alisher Usmanov’s Red & White Holdings group, who are the club’s second largest shareholders, claiming he was “the root cause of all the troubles at AFC” and was “unable to work with other board members”.

However, yesterday she posted a U-turn, writing: “I stand corrected. Dein loves the club and although sometimes personalities fall out, his contribution at Arsenal has been immense.”