£144,000 a week to keep Flamini

Mathieu Flamini has told Arsenal they will have to make him one of the country's highest paid players if they want to keep him next season.

The French midfielder has made the astonishing demand for a deal worth £7.5million-a-year - around £144,000 a week - because he has a similar offer on the table from AC Milan.

He will be able to leave on a Bosman free transfer in the summer and now seems certain to quit the club unless they make him their top earner.

Manager Arsene Wenger said today that Flamini had 48 hours to decide if he was going to accept Arsenal's deal which, with loyalty bonuses, would be worth £21m over four years.

Wenger originally claimed he wanted to know before the end of April whether the 24-year-old intended to stay, as he is anxious to begin the search for possible replacements.

But the manager has now extended that deadline to Monday morning, when Flamini - who is set to return to the substitutes' bench against Everton on Sunday following an ankle injury - will be asked to make up his mind.

He said: "Mathieu could answer the question on his future much better than I could. At the moment, we have no news from him but, at the latest, we expect it to be decided over the weekend.

"He tells me he wants to stay and I want him to stay, but it will be down to numbers as well and we want to respect our wage structure. It is also important to keep the core of the team together."

Wenger, meanwhile, admitted he was left completely in the dark over Keith Edelman's departure as managing director yesterday after an eight-year stint.

Edelman - who claimed he was leaving to seek a new challenge - has been replaced on a short-term basis by director Ken Friar, a close ally of Wenger.

The Frenchman insists his day-today business will not be affected but the fact he was not told of Edelman's impending departure is surprising, given the manager is a non-executive director and is generally kept informed of boardroom business.

He said: "It came as a complete surprise to me because he didn't inform me he was leaving.

"But I don't think it will change much in terms of the footballing side of things. The money available won't change either.

"I think the stability will remain. Ken Friar has already worked with me on the contracts and he will replace Keith for the coming weeks so I don't think it will be a major change for me."