"Arsène Wenger is preparing to return to football and is set to take up one of four job offers within a month.

Wenger, 69, has told friends that he is missing the day-to-day involvement of working with players and is itching to return to a job in the game. The Frenchman parted company with Arsenal at the end of last season after 22 years as manager and has not worked since apart from occasionally as a TV pundit.

Wenger is still based in London but will not work for another club in the Premier League, believing that it would be disrespectful to Arsenal after all his years there. He is now considering four concrete job offers, one understood to be as director of football at Paris Saint-Germain, another as the head coach of a national team, and two from leading clubs in Europe."