Fabregas is reported to be a target for Barcelona and Real Madrid while Theo Walcott and Robin van Persie are both in talks over new contracts.

Gazidis believes, however, that the current group of young players will stay at Arsenal and kick-start a new era of success at the club.

Gazidis said: "I can't marry the stories that I read with the reality, which is that Cesc is extremely happy at Arsenal and totally committed to the club, and that's every message that Arsene Wenger or I have ever received from him or his representatives.

"I am very confident that Cesc is committed to the club.

"You never relax about any situation but we are very confident that this team will stay together, progress together and achieve success together.

"The young players that we have and the manager we have believe we are doing something very special here."

Van Persie and Walcott's contracts both expire at the end of next season, and although Fabregas has a deal which stretches until 2014, under international transfer rules he would be allowed to buy himself out of the deal in October having gone past the three-year mark.

Arsenal's chief executive claims the club can compete with the likes of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea in terms of wages, and provide an unbeatable environment for the players.

Gazidis added: "Arsenal offers good money, it offers a great development programme, a superb environment so it is difficult for me to imagine why players would want to leave.

"I can't guarantee success because success depends on those very players but am I confident that I can keep those players and we can make progress? Absolutely, very confident.

"It's not good enough for us to be in fourth place, we have to be competing for the Premier League title.

"I think there are a variety of reasons we are in fourth place but it's not the level of our ambition - not the level of Arsene Wenger's, the board's or my ambition.

"Arsene believes he is developing a superb team of young players who can compete for the Premiership for many years to come."

Gazidis said Arsenal are not relying on qualifying for next season's Champions League in terms of their finances - and the players will not have to take wage cuts if they fail to qualify.

"Arsenal is not a big gambling club, it is a very conservatively-run club. I don't think it has ever been a club that has relied on revenues that are uncertain," he said.

"The revenue levels to service the contracts are levels we are comfortable with and those player contracts are at levels that are sustainable for us."

Gazidis explained that Arsenal are seeing some effects of the recession with some fans not renewing season-tickets or corporate boxes, but he is confident there will be more than sufficient demand for them to be filled straight away - there are 47,000 fans on the season-ticket waiting list.

There has been a slow-down in selling the apartments at the Highbury Square development, but Gazidis said that has been kept separate from the club's finances.

He also gave a glowing testimony to the qualities of Stan Kroenke, the American billionaire who yesterday raised his stake in Arsenal to just over 20% of the club.

Only Uzbekistan metals magnate Alisher Usmanov's company Red & White Holdings group hold a larger proportion of shares - they have 25%.

Gazidis knows Kroenke from his time in the USA, and he said: "He is an excellent owner in the other sports he has been involved in, he has been a good part owner of Arsenal and an active participant on the board.

"He is a long-term investor who thinks about the sports business very carefully and philosophically is very close to the traditional Arsenal ethos.

"He believes in the club running itself on a self-sustaining basis and he obviously must have affection for the club otherwise we wouldn't see his shareholding increase."

Gazidis, who took over on January 1, has also met Usmanov but said he "did not know" whether he would be invited on to the board.

Kroenke accepted an invitation to become a non-executive director in September, but Gazidis refused to speculate on the chances of the American becoming the club's outright owner.