Arsenal get the perfect send-off

As if Arsenal did not have enough to enjoy from their perch at the top of the Premiership, they were given two further reasons to celebrate yesterday. No sooner had the club confirmed the funding is in place to enable their new stadium to be built than Arsene Wenger announced he will extend his contract.

Wenger, whose deal runs out at the end of next season, committed himself only to a one-year extension, taking him up to 2006, when Arsenal leave Highbury. Yet it is inconceivable he will not sign for longer and see in the move to Ashburton Grove.

The manager spoke of how "exciting" it would be to lead out the team at their new home and said he would not "run away" from the £357 million project. The board is relaxed about Wenger's future.

"Arsene can stay for as long as he wants," said the chairman Peter Hill-Wood. "He has been very much involved with the new stadium and I think he is very much excited by it. I can't suddenly see him saying he wants to walk out . . . I haven't spoken to him (about his contract), although I am sure I will in the not too distant future. I am not worried at all."

Arsenal's announcement that they have secured the £260 million loan they need to finance the stadium is not a surprise but it will increase the feel-good factor at the club.

Arsenal regard Ashburton Grove as vital in establishing them as one of Europe's most powerful clubs. The increased capacity from 38,000 to 60,000 will bolster finances, as will more extensive corporate facilities. Wenger said the move could take Arsenal on to "the next level".

Arsenal have taken on significant debt, which they estimate will peak at £285 million just before the new ground opens.

"I think I have pushed the board into that situation," Wenger said, "so for me to run away would not be fair."

He said he would stay until 2006 - "I'm prepared to be committed to the club, at least until we go into the new stadium" - but he all but confirmed he would stay longer when questioned about leading out the team at Ashburton Grove.

"It will be exciting and difficult as well," he said, "because Highbury has special memories."

The loan, repayable over 14 years, has been put together by a group comprising the Royal Bank of Scotland, Espirito Santo Investment, the Bank of Ireland, Allied Irish Banks, CIT Group Structured Finance (UK) and HSH Nordbank AG.

Arsenal said outstanding compulsory purchase orders were not needed for the project's completion. "It's purely construction now," said Danny Fiszman, a director and the leading shareholder. "There are no other hurdles."

Meanwhile, Wenger was upbeat as he prepared for tonight's Champions League game at Celta Vigo. He also offered a withering response when told Barcelona had restated their interest in Thierry Henry: "I feel, as many people do, bored by all this. I want to buy Buckingham Palace but I can't do it. We have no desire to sell Thierry so that isn't going to happen either."

Henry has inevitably attracted the interest of every other leading club after inspiring Arsenal to so much success since his arrival at Highbury in 1999.

However, he has consistently played down any interest in leaving the club, even after Real Madrid recently declared him to be one of their three main summer transfer targets.

Indeed, Henry insists he is becoming "bored" by so much speculation as he has only just signed a new contract at Arsenal.

Vigo Jose Reyes is hoping to make an immediate impression on his Champions League debut back in his Spanish homeland.

While Patrick Vieira has been passed fit despite a knee injury sustained last weekend at Chelsea, Gilberto Silva and Ashley Cole have both been ruled out of the game.

However, with the non-flying Dennis Bergkamp absent, Reyes (20) is set to partner Henry up front.

The Spanish international, who only signed from Seville last month, declared: "This will be a special game for the club and, especially, for me to return to Spain with a club from abroad."

When it was put to Reyes that he had never scored against Celta Vigo, he replied: "It's not a worry for me. People said that I hadn't scored before against Chelsea but I scored twice against them in the FA Cup."

PROBABLE TEAMS

CELTA VIGO: Cavallero; Velasco, Sergio, Berizzo, Silvinho; Angel, Luccin; Edu, Vagner; Mostovoi; Milosevic.

ARSENAL: Lehmann; Lauren, Toure, Campbell, Clichy; Ljungberg, Vieira, Edu, Pires; Reyes, Henry.

ChampionsLeague

(7.45 unless stated)

FIRST KNOCKOUT ROUND: First leg: Bayern Munich v Real Madrid; Celta Vigo v Arsenal; Lokomotiv Moscow v Monaco (5.30); Sparta Prague v AC Milan.

Celta Vigo v Arsenal

Balaidos Stadium, 7.45

On TV: UTV