Gunners bid to keep Arsene at Emirates with new £24m deal

Arsenal are preparing formal discussions with Arsene Wenger over a new three-year contract worth £8million-per-season.

The new contract - that would see the Frenchman net a £500,000-per-year increase - would take Wenger beyond 20 years at the north London club.

It is understood money to pay for the proposed new deal has already been earmarked from the club's budget.

New deal: Arsene Wenger is set to be offered a new three-year contract worth £8million a season

As revealed by Sportsmail during the summer, informal discussions over fresh terms have already taken place between Wenger and chief executive Ivan Gazidis.

But with the club currently riding on a crest of wave, there is now an urgency to get Wenger round the table for crunch talks - which could happen during the forthcoming international break.

Club officials are confident Wenger will extend his stay beyond the end of this season, when his contract expires.

The signing of Mesut Ozil has breathed fresh life into the manager, something that has not gone unnoticed by his backroom team at the club's London Colney HQ.

Adding quality: The signing of Mesut Ozil has helped Arsenal start the season strongly

But while there remains a confidence the 63-year-old wants to lead a new Arsenal era, the manager's public insistence that he wants to wait until later in the season before deciding his future remains a worry.

Cash-rich Paris St Germain want Wenger to finish his career in the French capital and are continuing to monitor his contract situation.

But Arsenal hope the prospect of a lucrative new deal and the chance to add more bona-fide world class talent to his squad in the future will be enough to convince Wenger to stay.

Arsene who? A relatively unknown Wenger took over at Arsenal in 1996

Indeed, despite the club record £42million outlay on Ozil, the Arsenal hierarchy will make more money available to Wenger again in January, primarily to sign a new centre-forward.