£10m kitty for Wenger

Arsene Wenger will receive an unexpected transfer kitty of up to £10million next month as a direct result of the club tying up the finances for their new stadium.

Sportsmail can reveal that the Highbury club will tell their manager that the money will be made available to him to strengthen the team in the January transfer window now that the £260m deal for Ashburton Grove has been secured.

The cash, which is currently frozen in assets relating to other parts of the property deal which are integral to the stadium project, will be freed up as soon as documents guaranteeing the finance on the new ground are signed.

An official announcement on the new 60,000-seater arena is expected to be made early next month. That means Wenger will be permitted to spend the kind of money denied him last summer, when his total outlay on players amounted to the £ 1 . 25 m it cost to bring in Jens Lehmann from Borussia Dortmund.

Wenger's priority will be a striker to take the pressure off Thierry Henry and replace Dennis Bergkamp in the long term.

A renewed bid for Seville's teenage sensation Jose Reyes is the most likely option.

An Arsenal scout watched the 20-year-old destroy Real Madrid defender Francisco Pavon in Seville's 4-1 thrashing of the La Liga champions last month, while the Spanish club have confirmed that they received two offers from Highbury last summer - the highest of which was £8m, to be paid in instalments.