Arsenal are confident that coach Arsene Wenger will stay at the Emirates Stadium, with chairman Peter Hill-Wood revealing on Monday that talks over a new contract for the Frenchman have opened.
Wenger's current contract expires at the end of the forthcoming campaign, but Hill-Wood told the club's official Web site that he is confident the manager will sign up.
"I very much hope he will [sign]. It's very important," the chairman told www.arsenal.com.
"He's done a marvellous job for the last 10 years or so. He looks pretty fit to me and I think he enjoys himself still. He's got a good job and I'm hoping he'll stay with us," Hill-Wood said.
"We had a fairly lengthy conversation recently and that went very well. Hopefully, in the not too distant future we'll have something positive to say about it. I'm confident he'll stay," he said.
Hill-Wood also dismissed talk of a summer of discontent at Arsenal. Wenger's side have been hit by the departure of captain Thierry Henry for Barcelona, while the futures of Wenger and midfielder Cesc Fabregas have also been the subject of persistent speculation, although the Spaniard committed his future to the club over the weekend. With Croatia's Brazilian-born striker Eduardo da Silva, fullback Bacary Sagna and goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski the only new arrivals so far, Arsenal's ability to keep pace with their big-spending rivals has been called into question.
"I believe we've never been in a better position," Hill-Wood said.
"I think the team is absolutely first class. We had some very good results last year against the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea, the sides we didn't overhaul in the league but played pretty well against when we faced them.
"It's a young side still but they're a year older now so they're going to be that much better.
"If you tune in to the media, you would believe that it's been a difficult summer but I think people have not really looked behind what's happened.
"I'm very relaxed. I think we've got a very good squad and we've added a few players, most of them not names people have heard of before. But that's very much Arsene Wenger's style," he said.
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