Kroenke's stance raises the stakes with Barcelona

Arsenal board back Wenger's £40m valuation of Fabregas, who took part in yesterday's open event for members

Kroenke believes Arsenal's captain is worth the €40m Barcelona have been quoted (AP)

Arsene Wenger was given the backing of Arsenal's majority shareholder Stan Kroenke yesterday to hold out on his £40m valuation of Cesc Fabregas and not to change his position in any negotiations over the player's putative transfer to Barcelona this month.

It has always been Kroenke's policy that player transfers are best left to Wenger's leadership and the American sports mogul did not change his position at the club's monthly board meeting at the Emirates. Arsenal feel that the ball is very much in Barcelona's court, especially with Fabregas now fit to play and in a position where he could be cup-tied for the Champions League later this month.

Wenger is keen that Fabregas plays against Benfica in Arsenal's friendly in Lisbon tomorrow, raising the prospect that the next key flashpoint in his transfer saga will be whether he plays in Arsenal's forthcoming Champions League qualifiers.

Arsenal find out this lunchtime who they must play to qualify for the group stages – the first leg of which is on 16 or 17 August and the second the following week – with Fabregas unable to play for Barcelona in the competition this season if he features for Arsenal.

The return to fitness of Fabregas, and his inclusion in the squad to travel to Lisbon today, means that the stakes have again been raised in the summer's long-running transfer pursuit. While both clubs have refused to compromise so far and Fabregas has kept his distance, the player's inclusion in the squad for those games is more likely to bring things to a head than any other factor.

Earlier in the day, Kroenke had been at the Emirates to watch Fabregas train with his team-mates at an open event for Arsenal members. Around 5,000 fans watched the Arsenal players train and afterwards Fabregas took part in recording his individual broadcast package filmed by Sky Sports for use in their pre-match team line-ups and had his picture taken for club publications.

The squad photograph, which was scheduled for yesterday on the pitch at the Emirates, was postponed but only because of the bad weather. After training, Fabregas signed autographs for supporters. However, the club did not introduce the players one by one to the crowd as has been the custom in the past.

In the meantime, Arsenal await Barcelona's next move – with the Spanish club now recognising that with Fabregas fit they need to do the deal before the Champions League qualifier first leg in potentially 11 days' time. The Spanish club's best proposal so far has been €33m up front with ¤6m in add-ons – a total of around £34m.

They are reassured by the fact that Wenger has point-blank refused to consider interest from Manchester City or Chelsea in the player and are trying to lighten the load on their finances by selling. Having sold Jeffren Suarez already, they want to offload Gabriel Milito and former Arsenal player Alexander Hleb who both command big salaries. Also on his way out is the Brazil striker Kerrison who cost £9m two years ago and has never played for the senior team.

Samir Nasri was absent from the open training session yesterday with an ankle problem. With one year left on his contract the player is certain to leave next summer as a free agent but there is still the possibility that he will be sold to Manchester City this summer if Fabregas's deal falls through and the captain can be persuaded to stay.

Arsenal will play one from Rubin Kazan, Udinese, Odense, FC Zurich or FC Twente in their Champions League qualifier this month.