Emmanuel Adebayor has handed Arsenal a massive boost by declaring his intention to see out the remaining three years of his contract.
The Togo international has been the subject of fevered speculation all summer, with Milan having declared their interest in bringing him to Italy.
Arsenal have remained tight-lipped on the player's future but now Adebayor has come out to clarify his situation in North London.
Following the departure of Mathieu Flamini to Milan and Alexander Hleb's likely exit to either Internazionale or Barcelona, Adebayor's pledge of loyalty will be well received in the capital.
On Thursday, super agent Vincenzo Morabito stated that the forward was '80 per cent certain' of joining Milan but this prediction appears to be somewhat ill-founded.
heard on an Arsenal forum this was on the tv sports report in England, press conference to follow
Arsene Wenger claims keeping Thierry Henry was more important for Arsenal's future than winning the Champions League.
Henry ended months of speculation by agreeing a four-year contract with the Gunners, which went some way to assuaging Arsenal fans' disappointment at the Champions League final defeat by Barcelona - the club leading the chase for the France international.
But Arsenal boss Wenger believes Henry's commitment to the Gunners is of greater significance than beating the Catalan giants in Paris would have been.
"My target at the start of the week was to win the Champions League and keep Thierry," said Wenger.
"I managed only one - but, for the future, it is the most important one.
"For the present, we would have loved to win this cup, and we came out of the match with mixed feelings.
"Jens Lehmann's sending-off means that we did not have a chance to play 11 against 11."
Henry conceded that he would probably have joined Barcelona had he decided that his future lay away from north London.
The Barca hierarchy - as well as key players such as Ronaldinho - repeatedly expressed their desire to see Henry at the Nou Camp, but the 28-year-old has decided to resist such temptations.
He said: "Were Barcelona the only option? I didn't want to know about other options.
"I'm an honest guy, so maybe that would have been the team I'd have gone for had I left. But I'm still here, and that's all that matters."
Henry also reacted angrily to suggestions that financial matters ever played a part in his decision, even though he will earn a reported £130,000 per week as part of his new deal at Arsenal.
The former Juventus striker - Arsenal's record league goalscorer - could have expected to have earned at least that had he decided to swap the Barclays Premiership for La Liga.
But he insisted: "It was not about the economic question. It was not about money. Even if I'd left or whatever, again it would have nothing to do with money.
"At some point, people have to stop talking about that. People want to give you a label as a footballer where it's all money, money, money.
"Of course money has contributed to a certain lifestyle for us and one day that will stop, but there's love, there's emotion, real emotion, real love; sometimes when you want to go because you might want to live somewhere else.
"It's not always about money, whether you stay or leave. In any walk of life it's the same.
"For me it was my family, my love for the club and this passion in England that I don't think I'll find elsewhere."
Henry also ruled out any suggestion that he could move to Spain in the future - strengthening the idea that he intends to finish his career at Arsenal.
He added: "I've never played in Spain and I never will. I've played in France and Italy but this is the best country to play football and this is my last contract.
"I enjoy playing away or at home, getting stick. It's the passion I like. Here you can do your job in the right way - people here respect the player."
Wenger admitted Arsenal would have struggled to finish higher than fourth in the Premiership without Henry.
"It is difficult to say if this team would have gone much higher without the best players," said Wenger. "For the progress of the team, it was vital to get this response from Thierry.
"We would have had to cope with any decision, but it's an insurance for the future of the team.
"The team started the season at a low level of confidence and belief, and went through thick and thin this year, but they've shown improvement and resilience, and finished strongly.
"The season just gone has created a special bond inside the team and there's much more to come. [The defeat by Barcelona] reinforced that feeling, but we knew we had to rely on Thierry's decision."
Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein - whom Henry admitted had played a key role in keeping him at the club - revealed that Henry's presence had been a major selling point in Arsenal's quest to attract new signings.
Wenger said he hoped to sign "one or two players of great calibre" during the summer as he tries to mould an Arsenal team capable of reclaiming the Premiership crown from Chelsea.
In January, Wenger added midfielder Abou Diaby and forward Emmanuel Adebayor to his squad, as well as 17-year-old Theo Walcott, who has been included in the England squad for this summer's World Cup finals, despite not having made a first-team appearance since his move from Southampton.
Dein admitted that the "Henry factor" had attracted all three of Wenger's most recent signings.
"When we signed Walcott, Diaby and Adebayor, the first question they asked us was whether they would be training with Thierry," said Dein.
"His presence is a fantastic influence when it comes to signing players, and it shows our ambition. We are building a new stadium (the Emirates Stadium, where Arsenal will play from next season), and we will have 60,000 people there.
"It would've been a tremendous blow for the club [if Henry had left]. It's not every day you get someone who has scored an average of 30 goals a season.
"Today is a momentous occasion, because we have kept Thierry Henry at Arsenal, and he did have other choices."
always make me laugh when it comes to the transfer market
who gives a f*ck what players say?? they only look out for themselves.
Arsenal star Emmanuel Adebayor may have reopened the door for a Milan move after making a sensational U-turn this afternoon.
The Togolese striker became Milan’s No 1 target over recent weeks, but seemed to rule out a move by committing himself to Arsenal in a Press conference.
“I am an Arsenal player and I still have three years on my contract,” he said. “I will be staying at Arsenal whatever happens and I have lots of years ahead of me because I have a good contract at a big club.”
But just hours later, the in-demand marksman backtracked and may now be back on the Rossoneri radar.
“I have a three-year contract at Arsenal but as you know, a lot of clubs are interested in me,” he told Sky Sports News.
“Lots of teams want me and at the moment we are just going to sit down and talk so we can decide what to do.
“Nothing has been decided yet. We will make our decision next week.”
It now seems that Adebayor is waiting for final offers from Milan and Barcelona before he chooses his club.
Milan have reportedly prepared a £25m bid but are unwilling to go above that figure and may instead turn to Ronaldinho.
