Arsenal are ready to reassure Arsene Wenger that their plans for change are not about undermining or restricting the core power of the manager.

Wenger reacted dismissively on Tuesday when the prospect of working with a director of football or sporting director was raised and stressed that he would only stay on if his final say on all key technical decisions was retained.

Arsenal have been exploring candidates for a new sporting director-style position – as revealed in March by The Telegraph - but the role that is being envisaged is to offer support across all football operations, including analytics, scouting, sports science, youth development and even simple logistics, rather than shape actual day-to-day aspects of coaching or team selection.

A team of people that includes chief scout Steve Rowley, chief executive Ivan Gazidis and transfer negotiator Dick Law already also work on recruitment and there is no plan to withdraw Wenger’s final say on which players Arsenal sign.

The club’s belief is that football has become so multi-layered that it could be beneficial to have another person working across operations. A title has not been decided – nor a particular candidate - but comparable roles at other clubs have gone by the name head of recruitment, football director, head of operations as well as the more controversial sporting director or director of football descriptions.