Mikel Arteta is now the clear front-runner to become Arsenal’s new manager after Hoffenheim ruled out the prospect of Julian Nagelsmann leaving the club this summer.

The Gunners are leaning towards the appointment of a younger coach after baulking at the financial demands of their big-name targets with Arteta now in pole position to succeed Arsene Wenger, who stepped down on Sunday.

Arsenal’s head of recruitment, Sven Mislintat, has been pushing the case for 30-year-old Nagelsmann but the Bundesliga club’s director of football Alexander Rosen told Sky Germany this morning their head coach would remain at the helm.

“Julian Nagelsmann will be our coach next season, 100 per cent,” said Rosen. The declaration comes just a day after Max Allegri appeared to rule himself out of the running by stating he will stay at Juventus “unless they sack me”.

The momentum behind Arteta’s candidacy has gathered pace since the weekend and he is now thought to be chief executive Ivan Gazidis’s preferred option. As part of an extensive process, the Gunners began by sounding out Luis Enrique just over three weeks ago. Enrique was interested in the job but is seeking a salary around twice the £8million-a-year Wenger received.

The club also made contact with Allegri through an intermediary — just as they did last year when speculation was rife Wenger would leave — but the Juventus coach is believed to have told Arsenal they must make a huge transfer kitty available.

Allegri harbours concerns about leaving a team with genuine Champions League aspirations for one about to embark on a second season in the Europa League.

The Gunners have a transfer budget of around £50m this summer, plus what they can raise through player sales, but Allegri is thought to have indicated Arsenal may need around three times that much to turn them into title contenders.

Arteta, 36, would command a much lower salary than Enrique and Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has indicated he will not stand in Arteta’s way if he wants to leave City.

A clear-out of backroom staff continued yesterday with the surprising departure of highly-rated, long-serving head of medical services Colin Lewin after 23 years’ service as part of a restructuring led by head of high performance Darren Burgess.

Goalkeeping coach Gerry Peyton, first-team coaches Boro Primorac and Neil Banfield in addition to fitness coach Tony Colbert are all expected to leave while kit man Vic Akers is retiring with equipment manager Paul Johnson set to move on.