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Wenger adds to swirl of speculation over Arsenal future
LONDON (AFP) - Arsene Wenger added to the uncertainty over Arsenal's future on Friday when he refused to discuss his personal plans beyond the expiry of his current contract at the end of next season.
The Frenchman's long-term future at the club has been thrown into doubt following this week's abrupt departure of former vice-chairman David Dein, his closest boardroom ally at the Emirates stadium and the man who brought Wenger to London in 1996.
Dein ended his 24-year association with the club on Wednesday in a move widely linked to boardroom divisions over how to respond to takeover overtures from American tycoon Stan Kroenke.
And, in his first appearance before the press since that dramatic development, Wenger reiterated his huge disappointment over the departure of "a man of class and intelligence."
Pressed on his own future, Wenger would only say: "I said I committed to the club and to the contract to 2008.
"I will try to give my best as long as I am here. I have one-and-a-half years on my contract - therefore I always feel we have the interest of our fans in mind.
"I will always give my best for the club and I am committed to do that."
He added: "I do not want to speak about beyond my contract because I think it is important to concentrate on the short term and to the end of the season."
Those remarks will cause alarm among Arsenal fans who would be devastated to see Wenger, the most successful manager in the club's history, walk away.
Although he insisted he has good relations with all members of the Arsenal board, Wenger made it clear how much he would miss Dein, with whom he worked closely on transfers.
"It is a disappointment and a big loss," he said. "David always at heart had the best interest of the club."
Despite those regrets, Wenger said he was determined to complete his mission of establishing Arsenal as one of the biggest clubs in Europe playing his brand of technical, entertaining football.
"We have many young players and I want to develop this team and go as high up as we can," he said. "I don't want speculation; you could talk about the consequences a lot."
Wenger's comments came after Arsenal legend Ian Wright claimed that Dein's departure had unsettled the players, including skipper Thierry Henry, as much as the manager.
"I know the players aren't happy, I know Thierry's not happy," Wright said.
"We're talking about a man (Dein) who goes into the dressing room after every single game, shakes every player by the hand and who knows all the youth team players.
"I know this for a fact that the manager and the players are 100 percent behind David Dein, and I can see real repercussions coming off the back of this.
"David Dein was not going to try and make moves to bring in a foreign investor from America without Arsene Wenger knowing about it."
Dein was understood to be in favour of allowing Kroenke, who has built up an 11 percent stake in the club, to become more involved in running it.
But that was resisted by the rest of the board and the hardline stance adopted by chairman Peter Hill-Wood made Dein's position untenable.
Hill-Wood is determined that Arsenal will not follow the lead of Aston Villa, Liverpool and Manchester United, who are all now owned by American investors.
"Americans are buying up chunks of the Premiership football clubs and not because of their love of football but because they see an opportunity to make money," Hill-Wood claimed.
"They know absolutely sweet FA about our football and we don't want these type of people involved."
If Dein decided to sell his stake to Kroenke, the American, who also owns Major League Soccer's Colorado Rapids, basketball team Denver Nuggets and ice hockey side Colorado Avalanche, would become the biggest shareholder in the Gunners, currently valued at 420 million pounds (846 million dollars).
But he would remain short of the 30 percent required to trigger an automatic takeover bid under UK corporate law and the remaining board members, who together account for just over 45 percent of the shares, have agreed to hang on to their stakes for at least the next year.
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