Arsenal to break bank to keep Henry

Arsenal are prepared to make Thierry Henry the highest-paid player in the history of the club to keep the French forward at Highbury, British media reported yesterday.

Henry has put contract talks on hold, sparking fears he could quit in the summer.

But Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood told London's Evening Standard that the club would be prepared to beat the £82,000 ($143,700) a week they had paid Patrick Vieira.

"We have not talked about the offer yet," Hill-Wood told the tabloid. "But it is fair to say he would become the highest-paid player in Arsenal's history - and deservedly so.

"We would also have liked to talk before the end of the season but it is Thierry's right to leave it until then. It is his life but we want him to stay and he knows that."

Henry, 28, is currently paid around £75,000 a week, the paper said. His contract expires in June 2007.