ARSENE WENGER's desire to keep his Arsenal squad together encountered another setback yesterday when the agent of Alexander Hleb, the midfielder who has been courted by Internazionale, went public with the Belarusian's desire to leave at the end of the season.

Wenger has been enraged by what he sees as the tapping-up of Hleb by the Italian club and has threatened to report them to Fifa. But according to Hleb's agent, Nikolai Shpilevski, there is nothing the manager can do to prevent the player from moving on.

"Alexander is preparing to make one of the most important moves of his life," Shpilevski told the Belarus paper Pressball.

"He is leaving Arsenal even though they want to offer him a new long-term contract and better conditions. Only time will tell if leaving is the right decision, but there's no way back now. Everything will be cleared up in the next two weeks."

Hleb joined Arsenal from Stuttgart in July 2005 for £11.2 million (€14.2 million)and showed only flickers of talent in his first two seasons, but this time out the 27-year-old has been one of the team's best performers.

However, he met up with Claudio Vigorelli, the agent who brokers deals for Inter, in Milan on March 3rd, the night before Arsenal played Milan in the Champions League.

When the meeting was exposed, Vigorelli's associate, Vincenzo Morabito, a leading agent who is well known to Premier League clubs, claimed that the pair had merely gone for an ice-cream. Morabito added: "We are sorry that Mr Wenger took it badly and complained because we have a good relationship with him."

Inter are prepared to offer Hleb a huge increase on his Arsenal salary, leaving Wenger, who only on Wednesday was clinging to the hope that the Belarusian could be talked round, to wring his hands.

Wenger has already seen Mathieu Flamini, the midfielder, join Milan on a Bosman transfer, having refused to sign a new contract at Arsenal, and there are doubts about Gilberto Silva's future. The Brazilian is under contract until 2009 but he does not want to be a fringe player next season as he has this time. Wenger will have talks with him after Arsenal's final match, at Sunderland on Sunday.

Wenger did receive good news yesterday when it emerged that Nicklas Bendtner had ignored overtures from Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen to declare his continuing faith in Arsenal.

Roy Keane has warned any predatory clubs that Kenwyne Jones and Craig Gordon are not for sale.

The Sunderland manager yesterday described his centre-forward and goalkeeper as "untouchables".

"No sometimes really means yes in the transfer market but in the cases of Kenwyne and Craig no means no without a doubt," said Keane, who has released the out-of-contract Ian Harte, Andy Cole, and Stanislav Varga.

"Kenwyne and our goalkeeper are definitely not going anywhere. There are certain players who are untouchable."

Guardian Service