Keith Edelman, Arsenal’s managing director, believes manager Arsene Wenger will stay with the club for at least another eight years - but has scotched suggestions the Frenchman would be handed a seat on the board.

Wenger had been linked with a move away from the Arsenal in the wake of the departure of David Dein last August. But the Frenchman signed a new three year contract in September and has since guided his young team to the top of the Premier League.

With the club's latest financial figures - profits are up to £20 million for the six months ending November 2007 - buoyed by improved broadcasting deals and revenues from the Emirates Stadium, he now looks set to be at the helm for the long term.

Edelman admits he is not even considering Wenger's departure. "I don't think it's something we're contemplating at this juncture. He has just the other day announced he has a hunger to go on forever," he said. "He won't go on forever, that's an exaggeration on his part, but I don't think it will be my problem. I've got another seven or eight years to go [at the club] and it won't be my worry."

However Edelman rejected rumours that Wenger would be offered a position on the club's board. "He's pretty busy as manager at present. He does attend board meetings, he is a participant to our meetings but he is terribly busy," he said. "To put that extra responsibility on him when he is running the team - it's unfair to do that. There are lots of responsibilities of directors and extra work and we want him to focus [on the team] at the moment."

Edelman also insisted that there was be no imminent threat of a takeover from Alisher Usmanov, the Russian billionaire whose Red and White Holdings company have been steadily increasing their stake in Arsenal over the last year. Dein sold his shares to Usmanov's investment company when he left last August and is now chairman of Red and White.

However, Edelman ruled out Dein's return claiming that a lockdown agreement between other shareholders means a takeover would be a non-starter. "We were always advised by them that they would build their stake to 25 per cent but we have a lockdown which makes us bullet-proof and that's a word I've used before," he said. "We watch what they do and we make announcements when they go each extra per cent but it's business as usual. We have stated our objectives are to play good football, to look after our fanbase and to make a profit and the current board are delivering on all those objectives."