Arsene Wenger will be
sorting out of the futures of both Julio Baptista and Jose Antonio
Reyes in the near future.
Baptista and Reyes are both nearing the end of season-long loans at
Arsenal and Real Madrid respectively, after they swapped clubs last
August.
On Baptista, Wenger would not reveal whether he had decided to keep
the Brazilian or not.
"I will meet his agents next week and Real Madrid a bit later," he
said.
"I can talk to the player. Whether he stays or goes, I still need
to talk to the agent.
"If he stays, what price? If he goes, how do we do it?
"What can we do about it? You always need some service."
Wenger did admit that Reyes was unlikely to play for The Gunners
again - even though he would not rule it out.
"Reyes coming back can happen," he said.
"I have nothing against that - but Reyes does not want to come back
to English football, he prefers to stay in Spain.
"It looks at the moment that the situation with Real Madrid is a
bit confused about Reyes. We have no clear vibes coming out."
Meanwhile, Wenger has insisted that the club's new director of
football would not necessarily be a close friend of his - after
Henri Biancheri, who he worked with at Monaco, was linked with the
role.
"He will be appointed by me, but it will not necessarily be a
friend of mine," said Wenger.
"It will be somebody who will do the job well because if I go after
one day the guy still has to work here.
"I am looking for somebody who has experience of negotiating a
little bit, somebody I can leave alone because sometimes I cannot
be there.
"It will have to be somebody who understands football and knows the
football world as well and somebody who has the values and agrees
with the values we want to hold at the club."
