Luis Enrique wants £25m-a-year Arsenal wages?

Former Barcelona manager Luis Enrique is reportedly demanding a salary of £25m a year in order to replace Arsene Wenger at Arsenal this summer.

The Gunners are in the hunt for a new manager after the Frenchman confirmed plans to step aside and end his 22-year reign in North London when the current campaign ends, with Enrique said to be among their top targets.

According to The Mirror, the Spaniard is said to be seeking £15m a year in earnings after tax – the equivalent to a gross salary of £25m and significantly more than Wenger’s £8m annual salary.

Enrique is also said to have flummoxed the Arsenal hierarchy with his demands for a transfer kitty of around £200m to spend on new signings should he take over at the Emirates.

The Arsenal hierarchy are now likely to move on to other targets – ideally a younger candidate whom they can pay less than Wenger – and have identified Hoffenheim’s Julian Nagelsmann and former players Mikel Arteta and Patrick Vieira as possibilities.

The shortlist is also said to include Liverpool assistant Zeljko Buvac, Juventus’s Max Allegri and Monaco’s Leonardo Jardim.