Pires joined Arsenal from Marseille for �6m in 2000

Pires, 33, is out of contract next month and can move on a free transfer, but the Gunners want him to stay and have offered him a new 12-month deal.

However, on Tuesday the Spanish radio station Cadena Ser quoted Villarreal president Fernando Roig as saying a deal with Pires was done.

Villarreal later refused to comment and neither Pires nor Arsenal have done so.

The Frenchman, who was left out of his country's World Cup squad, had been widely expected to leave Arsenal this summer, with Villarreal consistently linked after they reportedly offered him a two-year contract.

But then at the weekend, after Pires said he had not yet made up his mind, stories circulated suggesting team-mate Thierry Henry had persuaded him to stay.