Wenger stays cool in takeover intrigue

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Russian businessman Alisher Usmanov increased his shareholding in the club earlier this week via Red and White Holdings Limited to around 21%, which makes the investment company Arsenal's second-largest shareholder behind director Danny Fiszman.

Wenger said: "I am totally relaxed because I just want to work the way I work. If that is not possible, I will have to assess the situation, but at the moment I must say I work like I want to work."

Reports in the Russian media quote Usmanov as being ready to up his interest to obtain a "blocking stake" of just over 25% before then waiting for the share price to "go up in value".

However, such a holding would allow little actual influence over company affairs, only enabling the veto of so-termed "special resolutions" such as total refinancing, which would have to have been put forward by the current board anyway.

It would not afford him any individual influence over the appointment of directors, management or the buying and selling of assets, namely players.

Wenger has an excellent working relationship with the current board, which proved pivotal in his decision to sign a new deal and stay at the club he has transformed over the past decade.

One of the reasons behind the shock departure of Jose Mourinho from Chelsea earlier this week was understood to have been over interference in team affairs from the boardroom at Stamford Bridge.

Wenger said: "Frankly I do not know how it worked [at Chelsea] - but here we do not have 18 people [who think they control the team]. I always said I stay because I can rate at the right level what I have here. I have the freedom to work how I want to work. I know, superficially, how life is everywhere else in the world."

The Arsenal manager added: "I feel we have a way to run things like I love it here. We can employ a director of football as long as he does what I tell him to do."