Arsene Wenger does not
want to discuss extending his Arsenal contract at least until the
end of the season.
The French tactician is currently tied to The Gunners until the
summer of 2008 and has every intention of seeing out his
deal.
The sudden exit of former vice-chairman David Dein was believed to
have unsettled Wenger, although he is remaining firmly 'committed'
to the club.
Wenger has until the end of next season on his current deal and
wants to concentrate on the short-term before talking about the
possibility of extending his Gunners stay.
"I don't want to speak about beyond my contract at the moment," he
said at a press conference on Friday.
"I feel that it's more important to focus on the short-term and to
leave that until the end of the season.
"I've said that I'm committed to the club. I have a contract until
2008 and if Dein had not left nobody one would asking me about
this.
"I've always respected my contract and I'll give my best for as
long as I'm here.
"I feel that it's important that I continue to give my best for the
club, as I always do. I'm committed to doing that."
Wenger also reserved special praise for Dein, with whom he helped
develop and bring success to Arsenal.
"We've lost a man of class, intelligence and competence who has
contributed to the success and development of the club," he
continued.
"David always had the club's best interests at heart. Even if I'm
very sad, it is important that we keep the best interests of the
club in his and my mind."
Meanwhile, Wenger is pleased with how his side have developed this
term following a slow start, but is looking for more consistency
next season.
"I feel the team is developing well, but we've not shown enough
consistency this season," he continued.
"We've shown great quality in patches this season. Therefore the
target is to transform that quality into consistency, that's down
to maturity as well.
"Stability is important in my opinion and that will be maintained
within the squad.
"My basic target it to keep winning until the end of the season.
Money is not necessarily the key for success next season.
"We've gone through a difficult period. They will be up for it from
the first game next season. They might surprise everybody."
Arsenal tackle Tottenham on Saturday in the North London derby,
live on PremPlus, and Wenger is expecting another exciting
encounter.
"We want to continue our winning steak. We want to go to White Hart
Lane and win the game," noted Wenger.
"Recently in Arsenal and Spurs games both teams have gone for it
and they have always been spectacular games."