Having been told by Cole of his desire to leave two weeks ago, Wenger has not included him in his plans for the season, which begins at the Emirates Stadium against Aston Villa on Saturday. The England defender has been training at London Colney, but he did not feature in the club’s photo call last week and is not expected to play at the weekend.

Wenger is concerned that Cole’s continued presence at the club is affecting his team’s morale. The Frenchman also needs time to strengthen his squad if Cole does leave, with much of the money to be spent on Curtis Davies.

West Bromwich Albion are demanding £10 million for the 21-year-old defender but are likely to settle for £7 million.

Having told Chelsea ten days ago that he wanted the deal done by the end of last week, Wenger has repeated this message to his club, whom he feels are holding up the sale. With Dein implacably opposed to the transfer, there is increasing tension about how best to proceed, with a split between those eager to do business as quickly as possible and those who are determined to hold out for the highest price.

Having rejected a formal bid of £16.5 million and an intimated offer of nearer £20 million, Dein has staked his reputation on achieving the club’s £25 million asking price, although many feel that he has overplayed his hand. In addition to gaining the best deal for Arsenal, he is weighed down by matters of personal pride and politics because he does not want to be seen handing a big asset to their main rivals, while there is also his antipathy towards Peter Kenyon, the Chelsea chief executive, to consider.

In his forthcoming autobiography, Cole is expected to blame Dein for his decision to leave the club, as a result of alleged betrayals over his contract talks and the infamous “tapping-up” affair, so the vice-chairman is understandably reluctant to usher the player out.

Having had two bids rejected, Chelsea insist that their latest offer of £17 million has been made on a “take it or leave it” basis as a result of their frustration at Arsenal’s stance, although this seemingly intransigent position could change.

The club have made informal inquiries about Eric Abidal, of Lyons, and John Arne Riise, of Liverpool, but Cole remains their only real target and Roman Abramovich, the owner, usually gets his man.

• Kolo Touré has said that Arsenal will be aiming for a better away record in the Barclays Premiership this season in an attempt to recreate their successes of 2001-02 and 2003-04. “We need to concentrate on and be more focused on winning more matches away,” the defender said. “We started badly last season, lost games and it was difficult to recover. We managed things better away in Europe.
  “This season we will be more focused (in the league) as we are more mature and we are used to playing together.”