At the end of last season, the big footballing question was will he or won’t he?
Yes, that’s right, Arsene Wenger’s future and whether he would extend his 23-year stay at Arsenal by signing a new deal was of course the hot topic.
While fly-over protests over the Emirates Stadium and the rise of Arsenal Fan TV had derided the Frenchman after a poor Premier League campaign, he remained as thick-skinned as ever to win his seventh FA Cup with the club.
Four days after that remarkable win against Chelsea, Wenger penned a new two-year contract in a statement which showed no one could drive him away from north London, other than at his own accord.
He is now fully focused again on the tough task in hand of getting Arsenal competing for major trophies and is adamant he will leave the club in the strongest possible position, whenever he departs, 2019 or not.
The likes of Max Allegri, Diego Simeone, Ronald Koeman and Eddie Howe have all been linked to the N7 hot seat as his successor.
What would ‘next level’ specifically mean for the Gunners?
A Champions League title – a trophy which has evaded the north London club’s famous history – is likely to be at the very top of that list while challenging for the league consistently has to be a priority.
“I would like whoever takes over from me to take the club to another level, and I genuinely hope that the club will succeed in doing that,” Wenger, who has been managing Arsenal for over twenty years, told France Football in an exclusive interview.
“I want only to assure myself that the person who takes my place will be put in the required conditions to work well. That means to have a settled team, a good financial situation, a squad that contains within it promising youngsters who can become excellent players. That is my desire.
“To help someone get his bearings right and feel at home, yes, that is my job. But it is up to the board to choose the next manager of Arsenal.”
In control of his own destiny again: Wenger.
Asked if he would be staying beyond his current deal, which runs out in 2019, Wenger laughed and replied: “I do not know”.
But while Arsenal’s fans have often felt frustrated with Wenger’s decision-making in the transfer market and relative lack of big spending compared to their immediate rivals, Alexandre Lacazette apart this summer, the Frenchman feels the current financial climate isn’t good for the game.
Indeed, Neymar’s world-record €222million switch to Paris Saint-Germain has been something of a game-changer – a fee Wenger previously predicted could happen in the modern game.
“(It’s not healthy) Not really. When you manage you should be aware of the fact that when we say that Neymar will earn €30m a year net post taxes. Any you, you have to explain to others who are earning 5 or 10. Knowing that they will not necessarily accept that. The danger, in my view, is that we are making fragile what I love about football, to know that it is a team sport.”
He added: “Today, football has become a business of individuals, in the image of our society that puts everything on the notion of a star, individual success, and less on what makes a team a team. You can ask if, today, Nottingham Forest could win the European Cup, like in 1979 and 1980. The answer is no.”
