Arsene Wenger has confirmed for
the first time that he has turned down several opportunities to manage
Paris Saint-Germain and claimed that his Arsenal squad is the strongest
of his entire 20-year tenure at the club.
According to Sources, Wenger has long been the dream manager of PSG’s Qatari owners and had
rejected three separate approaches in 2011, 2013 and 2014.
Wenger arrived in the French capital last night ahead of his first
match against PSG as Arsenal manager and, when asked about L’Equipe’s
claims, explained why he had decided to stay in England amid the chance
to join a project that would have given him an almost unlimited transfer
budget. “Because I love where I am,” said Wenger. “I know well the
owners [at PSG], but I feel always I remained loyal to Arsenal Football
Club because I think it's a club that has the qualities I love. And,
that's why.”
Wenger also turned down the
possibility to manage England this year and has previously rejected
approaches by Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City and
the France national team. The difference in recent years, however, is
that Wenger has opted to stay at Arsenal even amid a fan climate that
has become far more sceptical about his ability to lead the club to
another Premier League title or a first Champions League.
Wenger’s contract expires next summer and, although he is likely to
wait until after Christmas before making a final decision on whether to
stay, is adamant that he has never had more strength in depth.
Significantly, Wenger also admitted that he now finally again has a team
in the peak years of their careers following his more limited transfer
budget in the immediate aftermath of the club’s move to the Emirates.
The sub-text, then, is an
acknowledgment that the time to again seriously challenge for the very
biggest prizes has returned. “It’s the most mature squad I’ve had for a
long time, because they are men,” said Wenger. “They are not 19 or 20
years old, they are 24, 27, 28 and the whole squad is quite mature. It’s
the first time for a long time that I’ve had a team of what you can
call men ready to compete.
“I was used to playing with my younger squads when you build a
stadium because you don't have the resources. Now I have a team with
more experienced players. The squad is between 24 and 30. That's where
you have a good combination of physical strength and experience.”
Wenger’s current faith has not yet been matched this season by his
team’s performances. Arsenal remain in touch with Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur but they have been less convincing so far than their main rivals despite back-to-back wins against Watford and Southampton. Wenger believes that the stutter
is a consequence of so many of his players reaching at least the
semi-finals of Euro 2016. Olivier Giroud is tonight expected to make his
first club start of the season while Laurent Koscielny was also passed
fit despite significant bruising around his eye after being kicked in the face against Southampton.
“Laurent has taken on a new status with us – I think he's one of the
best in the world,” said Wenger. “Mentally we are ready; physically we
are not quite ready so far.”
“I have a lot of confidence in the work we're doing,” said Emery. “I
am a coach, Unai Emery, with experience. My experience tells me that
demands and my values of winning are exactly the same as when I started
out in Spain 12 years ago. I've assessed the whole squad and they've
looked me in the eye.”
In the circumstances, Wenger is
probably just about the last manager that Emery would like to see and he
believes that the Arsenal manager has become an anomaly in modern
football. “In football, you don't have much time,” said Emery. “I'm 44,
quite young, and trying to learn still. I have a lot of respect for
Wenger’s longevity. It's not very common – there was Sir Alex Ferguson –
but we'd all like to be in a similar situation to Arsene Wenger.”
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