Arsenal to reward Mikel Arteta with huge pay rise and put Kroupi among transfer targets

• New forward is a priority and Alvarez also on list

• Funds in place to make one marquee signing

Arsenal will reward Mikel Arteta for ending Arsenal’s 22-year wait to be champions by offering him a lucrative new contract that will cement the Spaniard’s status as one of the best-paid managers in the world. The club are also well advanced with plans to strengthen his squad.

Talks over extending Arteta’s deal beyond next summer were put on hold while Arsenal battled it out with Manchester City in the Premier League, although insiders insist there was an expectation he would have stayed even if the season had ended without a trophy. The 44-year-old has become the second-youngest manager to win the Premier League, after José Mourinho with Chelsea in 2004, and matched Kenny Dalglish’s achievement with Liverpool in 1990 in making a team top-flight champions his first senior management job. Continue reading...