Arsene Wenger green lights club-record bid for Kylian Mbappe after signing new Arsenal deal

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has made AS Monaco forward Kylian Mbappe a priority signing of the summer transfer window is prepared to pay as much as £87m ($112m) for his services, according to reports.

The amount is more than double the club-record £42.5m Arsenal paid to Real Madrid for Mesut Ozil in 2013.

French daily L'Equipe says Wenger is prepared to battle Manchester City and Real Madrid for the highly-rated Mbappe, who was named the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year after scoring 15 goals in Monaco's title-winning campaign.

Wenger is firmly focused on doing transfer business after signing a new contract to extend his stay at the Emirates Stadium until 2019 this week.

The Gunners could face a tough fight to land the 18-year-old striker, however, with Monaco having made it clear that they intend to hold on to him for at least one more season.

Reports have suggested that Real Madrid had a world-record bid of around £103m rejected for Mbappe last month.

"The plan is to do everything to prolong him and to do everything that he stays a minimum one more year with us," Monaco chief executive and vice president Vadim Vasilyev told the Daily Telegraph in May.

"We will [turn down offers for Mbappe], although that will depend, of course, also on the player. We will make an offer to prolong his contract and hopefully he will accept and stay with us. I think in the month of June, before the season starts."

Mbappe has insisted that he will be the sole person to make a decision on where he will play next season.

"I will make a choice based on my sporting career, and my career is first and foremost, and I am at an age where I need to play, and that will be paramount," he told beIN Sports.

"I will be the sole decision-maker, and I will not go anywhere where I will be forced to go."