Wenger waiting for Wiltord response

Arsene Wenger will demand an answer from Bordeaux today on Arsenal's latest bid to sign the French international striker Sylvain Wiltord.

Arsene Wenger will demand an answer from Bordeaux today on Arsenal's latest bid to sign the French international striker Sylvain Wiltord.

The Arsenal manager may be forced to bide his time, though. Bordeaux have priced the striker, who scored for France in their European Championship final victory, at a staggering £13m - a figure induced by the fact that they agreed to pay Deportivo La Coruña around 40 per cent of any subsequent sell-on fee when they signed Wiltord from the Spanish champions.

Now Wenger, who has been given first option to buy Wiltord by Bordeaux's president, faces the choice of whether to increase his £8m offer or wait until January when that figure is likely to be acceptable to the French club. Under Bordeaux's agreement with Deportivo, the sell-on clause reduces dramatically at the start of 2001.

"There is a difference of opinion between us and Bordeaux over what Wiltord is worth," Wenger admitted.