Revealed: Arsenal close to sealing £31.5million deal

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Published on:

23 Dec 2015, 1:49 pm

By Editor Wayne Veysey| Former Evening Standard, Press Association and Goal chief correspondent with 17 years experience of breaking big stories, including exclusives like this

Follow me on Twitter @footyinsider247

Jack Wilshere is close to agreeing a new £31.5million Arsenal contract,

Football Insider

sources understand. The injury-plagued midfielder is ready to commit to a deal that will lift his salary to £110,000-a-week and run until 2021. Wilshere's current £90,000-a-week agreement has two-and-a-half years left but the Londoners do not want to risk a situation where he could be antagonised into pushing for a transfer. Talks have been taking place since the summer about an extension and all parties are now confident that an agreement is nearly in place. Manager

Arsene Wenger retains full faith in the Gunners talisman

despite some off-field controversies and the series of serious injuries that have stalled his progress since his breakthrough 2010-11 campaign. Wilshere is closing in on a return from the fractured left fibula that has kept him out for the entire season. As revealed by

Football Insider,

Arsenal have offered the England international a lucrative package that would lift him into the second bracket of earners at Emirates Stadium, behind best-paid duo Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez but alongside Aaron Ramsey and Theo Walcott, who

signed a new four-year contract

in the summer.

Keeping faith: Arsene Wenger is keen to tie Wilshere down to an extended deal

Ozil is hoping to secure a £180,000-a-week deal that will

elevate his salary by £50,000-a-week and make him the highest-paid player in Arsenal history

Wilshere was a target of Manchester United

and their neighbours Manchester City in the summer but Arsenal have no intention of cashing in on their academy graduate and

will continue to reject any bids for him

Arsenal