It is almost impossible to imagine an Arsenal team anymore without The Professor - Arsene Wenger - on the sidelines guiding his troops to victory.

With Wenger's contract set to expire at the end of next season, Arsenal chief executive has suggested a new deal to keep Wenger, who joined the Gunners in 1996, at the Emirates is being worked out.

"It's not a sense of sentimentalism, not a reward for services, it's a belief that we have an incredible manager who loves this club and is the best man to lead us forward," Gazidis told the Telegraph.

"We're really confident about the direction that the club is heading. I feel he can keep going for a long time. He's in fantastic shape and he's as driven as he's ever been and excited as ever.

"He played in some staff games recently. When you put him out on the football field, he is still fit, quick and a good footballer. It's fantastic to see his endless enthusiasm. I really have learnt from Arsene and the players learn from him as well.

"The values that Arsene has brought to the club together with the values that the club had before Arsene are what will inform us and give us the framework as to who might take over from him in the longer term. He is written into our DNA.

"As a club, we have to make sure that all of the things that Arsene has brought to the club are enshrined in our DNA to make sure that, when Arsene decides it's time, we are in a position to take his ideas and work forward.

"The values that Arsene has brought to the club together with the values that the club had before Arsene are what will inform us and give us the framework as to who might take over from him in the longer term. He is written into our DNA."

Wenger has come for much criticism off late, after failing to win a single trophy in over seven years, which has in turn seen the likes of Cesc Fabregas, Robin Van Persie, Samir Nasri and more leave the club in search of silverware. There were calls for his resignation at the beginning of last season, after the Gunners suffered a torrid start to their campaign.

But Wenger as he always does, kept faith in his players and coupled by a few deadline day transfers, took his side to an impressive third-place finish. However, Arsenal fans are desperate to see some trophies coming back to the Emirates. "We're not dominated by fear," Gazidis said. "Arsene never succumbs.

"We try to do more than win, we try to win with style. I know we haven't won trophies in recent years. There's no one here that doesn't feel the pain of not being able to do that. We're very optimistic about this season. We're absolutely trying to win silverware and we're trying desperately hard to do it this year.

"We can get into extensive debate about individual decisions -- and like all clubs we are not perfect -- but the ultimate arbiter of whether you are spending your money efficiently is where did you finish in the Premier League versus your overall spending.

"When you look at what Arsene has done, within the overall constraints, he has outperformed our spending every single year he has been manager. It is extraordinary.

Arsenal have been tied down by long-term deal for quite some time now, as they tried to finance their new stadium. But most of those deals are set to expire in 2014, and Gazidis sees a huge bump in income in the future for the Gunners. "In terms of the financial impact, it will be as significant a step forward as the (Emirates) stadium was in 2005," Gazidis said. "It does kick us into the top five clubs in the world with separation from the rest.

"The overall journey that the club embarked on was to make it one of the leading clubs in the world and to do it in a way that would be sustainable. We get accused of a lack of ambition or complacency because apparently the board are only interested in the top four. That is absolute rubbish. To me this is the most ambitious football club I know."