Cesc Fábregas will not leave Arsenal whatever the overtures of Barcelona and Real Madrid, according to the London club's chief executive, Ivan Gazidis.

The Spain international was quoted by the press in his homeland last week as saying it is a "huge honour" that the two biggest clubs in La Liga have expressed an interest in him. With Fábregas permitted under Fifa rules to buy out his contract from January, Arsenal would be powerless to keep their captain if he were determined to leave.

Gazidis says Fábregas has repeatedly told him and the manager, Arsène Wenger, that he wants to stay at the north London club. "I can't marry the stories I read with the reality," said Gazidis, "which is that Cesc is extremely happy at Arsenal, totally committed to the club. I don't know the stories or the context in which the statements were made but I'm very confident that Cesc is committed to the club."

That will come as a relief to Arsenal fans who have read similar tales about their players' apparently vacillating commitment to the Emirates Stadium. Robin van Persie, Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott have all appeared to issue conditional pledges when asked about their futures. Gazidis was bullish about the prospects of stability of personnel. "We believe that the environment we create is very special, the wages we pay are competitive and we will invest money in the squad intelligently and thoughtfully.

Not that Gazidis is any more satisfied with the club's travails in imposing themselves on the Premier League this season. Only by taking advantage of Aston Villa's single-point return from their last five league matches have Arsenal entered the top four this month.

The former Major League Soccer chief executive stressed that the club expected more of those who may have been looking abroad for their next employment opportunity.

"If we want to be the club that we want to be, we have to be competing for the Premier League championship and it's not good enough for us to be in fourth place," he said. "I can be confident but I can't guarantee success because success depends on those very players."

So Van Persie's words, uttered from his national team training camp yesterday, will have emboldened Gazidis. "I'm still in negotiations with Arsenal, and it's going well – in a very positive atmosphere," said the forward, who has pulled out of the Holland squad to face Macedonia tonight because of a groin strain. "There are further meetings planned.

"Financially Arsenal's last offer is fine but that isn't everything for me. It's about my ambitions and how they can be fulfilled. The club and I want the same and it's our intention to achieve that. We have all the other factors in place – fantastic stadium, dedicated support and money in the bank."Arsenal are indeed unarguably solvent, despite the noise over their Highbury Square development,, but much depends on their continued and lucrative participation in the Champions League. There are no clauses in the players' contracts obliging their pay to be adjusted downwards in that event, meaning that the £100m wage bill would remain flat even while revenues dipped by up to £40m.

Gazidis said that due to the club's long-term financial planning and sponsorship agreements that this would not affect it them over the next 18 months, but enduring failure could eventually lead to implosion. "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," said Gazidis.

Although it appears increasingly likely that Arsenal will indeed be competing in the Champions League for an 11th successive season there have been other distractions for Arsenal the club in recent weeks. The events following the FA Cup quarter-final defeat of Hull City at the Emirates Stadium still hang over the club, with Hull issuing a formal complaint this week alleging that Fábregas spat at the assistant manager, Brian Horton.

An element of that protest was that the Arsenal captain, who had not been part of the playing squad that evening, entered the pitch in a hooded top and jeans. But Gazidis defends the Spaniard. "Arsène certainly believes that it is important that the players not playing be part of the team on game day, there's no rule prohibiting that," he said.