Wenger go-ahead to £25m Adebayor sale as Kroenke prepares to join board

And Paul Ince's first task, after he is officially confirmed as the new manager of Blackburn Rovers, will be to try to persuade Roque Santa Cruz to reject advances not only from Arsenal, but also from Manchester United.

High price: Emmanuel Adebayor

Adebayor's eventual destination - AC Milan and Barcelona lead the chase - is also likely to have an impact on where Chelsea striker Didier Drogba finds himself next season as the summer transfer window gets going in earnest after the climax of Euro 2008.

Arsenal will be making changes off the pitch, too, with chairman Peter Hill-Wood poised to announce that American tycoon Stan Kroenke has joined the board.

Along with the appointment of a new managing director and finance director in the next few months, the restructuring of both team and management at Arsenal is expected to be in place by the start of the season.

Paraguay striker Santa Cruz is ready to move to the Emirates Stadium, but a fee will have to be agreed with Blackburn, who signed him last summer from Bayern Munich for just £3.7million but is now expected to fetch £12m.

Santa Cruz was seen as an inspired purchase by manager Mark Hughes, who last month left Ewood to take over as boss at Manchester City.

But the striker, who has recently been on goalscoring World Cup qualification duty for his country, may also be in no hurry to decide his future given the options which could be open to him.

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is hoping Roma will take Louis Saha off his hands and is known to rate Santa Cruz highly.

The tall striker, 26, who made an instant impression on the Premier League with 19 goals last season, has the presence and experience which would go some way to reinforcing Wenger's young side, whose youthful vigour has already been increased by the signing of Aaron Ramsey, 17, from Cardiff and the impending arrival of 20-year-old Samir Nasri from Marseille.

But it is the departure of Adebayor, 24, which is likely to be the catalyst for change at the Emirates and across Europe.

Barcelona and AC Milan will now compete for his signature and although the Catalan club are confident they will secure the Togo centre forward, Arsenal will resist being rushed into a quick deal as AC Milan also want to sign the striker.

Barca director Marc Ingla was in London on Friday and wants to conclude the deal before July 6, because the club president Joan Laporta faces a vote of no-confidence that could end his reign. But a major signing would increase his likelihood of survival.

Although Barca are willing to pay £22m, Arsenal are likely to prolong the negotiations hoping that Milan come up with a rival offer as Wenger would hope to get at least £25m for the player he signed for £7m from Monaco two years ago.

The Arsenal manager and board of directors are prepared to sanction Adebayor's exit having been infuriated by the player's wage demands, which are understood to be £80,000 a week.

He was given a wage rise just a year ago and, although the board were prepared to give him another increase to £60,000 a week in light of the 24 goals he scored last season, his demands have proved too great to reconcile. Arsenal, who have already seen France utility player Mathieu Flamini tempted away by Milan's riches, would also like to add an extra midfielder before the start of the season.

Portsmouth's Niko Kranjcar, whose interest in Euro 2008 ended in dramatic fashion on Friday when Croatia lost on penalties to Turkey, has been repeatedly linked with a switch to north London and did little to discourage rumours of a move away from the FA Cup winners.

Kranjcar, 23, said: 'Obviously I am flattered with the interest of some clubs, but it is up to Portsmouth to decide what will happen. If they are willing to sell me, then I can talk about other clubs.'

While Wenger is working on restructuring his squad, the Arsenal board are rebuilding their position off the pitch. The search for a financial director and managing director to replace the departed David Dein and Keith Edelman in the past 18 months is continuing.

But the most significant step forward will come when American mogul Kroenke joins the board. Negotiations have been going on for a year and it is anticipated that a final agreement will be reached before the start of the season.

Kroenke, who o w n s 12.2 per cent of the club's shares, will then join the board's lockdown agreement, which prevents directors from selling shares to anyone outside of their cabal until 2012.

It means that almost 60 per cent of the club shares would be owned by directors and would effectively block Uzbekistan b i l l i o n a i r e Alisher Usmanov, who owns more than 23 per cent, from taking the club over.