Arsene Wenger says that his future at Arsenal will depend on what happens this season, and has suggested that he wants to keep working, if not at the Emirates then elsewhere.
Speaking this morning to Sky Sports, the Arsenal manager was asked about his contract situation – his existing deal running out at the end of this current campaign.
“You never know,” he said. “In your job, It’s a love story. You want it to you last your whole life but you know that it can stop at any moment.
“You are asked this question more when you get older!”
Asked what he would do next and if the England job was attractive to him this summer, he continued, “What I will do is continue to work as long as I have the physical potential to work. No matter what kind of position.
“I will always work. I’ve shown I respect my contracts, I rate highly loyalty, and I always did that with Arsenal and I have more year to go so I was not available anyway [for England].”
In further comments made on BBC5 Live, he said that any chance of extending his Arsenal stay would depend on how successful this upcoming season was.
“My contact runs through to the end of the season, what happens depends on how the season goes,” he said.
Arsène Wenger on Five Live: 'My contract runs until the end of the season. What I do after will depend on how the season goes'
— Sam Wallace (@SamWallaceTel) August 10, 2016
Not quite ‘Judge me in May’, but close enough. But it seems apparent that if he has what’s deemed a successful season, he’d want to continue.
Hope he wins us the title and continues.
This comment and the amount of likes gives me a bit of hope that the ones calling for his head still aren’t the majority of the Arsenal fans. #OneArseneWenger
Winning clubs are not sentimental about managers.Just ask Madrid,Barca,Juve,Bayern. Heck even Chelsea.
Off course it depends on how the season goes. .. if he finish top 4 he’ll get a new contract
That’s right. Because that’s what counts as success for Gazidis and Wenger. 4th place. Why strengthen the squad further if you have one good enough for 4th?
And if he does not, he leaves.
I don’t have any hopes of winning the title, because Wenger is simply not cut out for the current transfer market. All I want is to finish above Mourinho
He will stay if he gets top 4 again, no doubt about it. But I’ve always put my trust in him.
If he could beat guardiola, moutinho, klopp, conte and of course ranieri to the title this tims that would settle a whole lot of arguments.
I think his future depending on this transfer window which will have a major impact on the season
The way we are lagging behind our rivals in making proper signings, it is unlikely that we will win the league. Does that mean that he will be leaving by the end of the season or he will redefine sucess as just qualifying for CL?
Good one by Wenger. He must win the league, otherwise Arsenal should offer him a job as director of football, he’d be good at that I think.
He’d be the worst director of football ever.
Arsenal or not, I think it’s quite concerning he doesn’t seem to be aware that time escapes no man and is willing to go on forever. The very idea of retirement doesn’t seem to cross his mind. Personally I think it’s bordering on his ego now, or just not being sure what to do. But if he took an objective look and the evidence dictated that he should retire, then he should do what’s best for a club and not just what he wants. Not saying he should retire or quit Arsenal, particularly as the best dream is for him… Read more »
Didn’t he say not so long ago that he’d give the board plenty of notice of when he wanted to retire so they could plan for the succession? Now it seems he’s leaving it till the end of the season before deciding whether or not to accept a new contract – that one will be on offer, indeed has probably already been offered, apparently isn’t in doubt. As for who the successor could be, the board’s difficulty is that most of the obvious candidates – Guardiola, Klopp, Koeman, even de Boer – have already been taken, and Simeone isn’t likely… Read more »
If this doesn’t motivate the players nothing will!
Regardless of what happens this season, thank you for what you have done for the club over the past twenty years.
Legend.
Wenger has done this club a whole lot of good but he’s not as good as Pep, Jose and Simeone. After all these years Arsenal is still tactically inferior to lot of teams in Europe. Most of the times we have to rely on the individual qualities of our players to get us something from a match. We should have a new manager next season. After all he is employed by the club and is not bigger than the club. Also if he signs a contract extension, Sanchez and Ozil might leave……
—He said that any chance of extending his Arsenal stay would depend on how successful this upcoming season was—
His (and the boards) definition of success is probably a lot different to we fans.
Comment: Gulp! He’s the only manager , I’ve known since I started supporting Arsenal. I’ll be in tears in his final match. Now the Big question is , who replaces him??
He is going to sign another contract which ever way the season goes,if he was not sure if he would remain or go am sure by now they would have started to put things in place, just incase he leaves but none of that has happened, in fact all we have heard from the board is them indicating to us he has been given a new contract, he saying he wants to go on working is a way of telling us he is going to sign a contract, we should read btw the lines, I want more than ever to… Read more »
*put meant to say not out
I wonder what is considered a successful season. Top 4 and qualification from cl group stage has been enough for contract extension before. But is that really good enough for the majority of the fanbase again?
This should motivate a few underachievers to step up this season. I feel some players have really let him down over the years.
If he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory he’s going a strange way about it! A new centre half was needed before BFG and Gabriel got injured, so we’ve bought a 19 year old kid who may be good one day. This is a recurring theme, remember when we didn’t need another centre half because “Monreal or Debuchy could play there”! And we all know how that worked out. We buy another midfield player (where we’re already well covered) but neglect the areas where we really need strengthening. Win the league? We’ll be lucky to finish above… Read more »
Someone has posted this same “lucky to get 6th!!!1” comment every year for the last 9 years at least. Someday you’ll be right simply by the law of averages…
I really hope we win the title this season. It would be epic watching mourinho and his 110 mill player moan about how the referees cost him the title.
For someone who’s job depends on the outcome of this season, he is bollixing big time by not being decisive in the transfer window.
That has been his bane as a manager for Arsenal…
In my view he should go at the end of the season whatever the outcome is
Oh how I’d love to see him spunk all the money and go out in a blaze of glory!
Unfortunately, he’s far to sensible for that.
@stillmatic: Love something more than you love yourself and you will have all the answers to your worries.
Our fans are very split as evidenced by that half-hearted ‘protest’ at the Emirates last season.
Let’s just hope he calls it at the right time and goes out with the respect that he’s due.
The number of opposing fans that I’ve heard sat ‘you don’t know how lucky you are…’
-Hey Arsene, how did you win the title?
-Oh, just by beating the best coaches in the world.
-And how did you win it last time?
-By Not losing a single game.
Please not another new deal for that man.
please not another new deal for him. We need a fresh approach.
He won’t. We have a marginal chance at best of winning the league this season. United, City, and Chelsea all have stronger squads and better managers, and have been much more proactive in the transfer window. Chelsea aren’t in Europe either, and given how frighteningly close a much worse Liverpool squad with just one world class player were to winning the league a couple of seasons ago due to the benefits of not being in Europe, they’ll be someone to worry about. We’ll most likely end up in a scrap for fourth with Sp*rs, Leicester, Liverpool (also not in Europe),… Read more »
What a shame if he fooked up his legacy and the boo boys get there way after everything he’s done for our club,personally hope he goes out on the highest of highs.
The problem already stated above, as always, is Arsene’s definition of a successful season may not be the same as ours. If he gets a statue when he leaves some joker will graffiti ‘Fourth is as good as trophy’ on it in days. I suspect lots of you bringing up the age issue can’t remember only two points for a win or even life before the Prem. I’m less than two years younger than Arsene and I won’t be hiding a damp patch on the wall of some wrinkly home anytime soon, the age card only gets played by the… Read more »
No
Anyone who has supported the club for more than 10 years should want the man to succeed this season. And if he wins the league then he deserves a new contract, simple as that.
Would love to see him do that and then maybe go on to win back to back titles for the first time, and have one or two good shots at the Champions League.
That’s the perfect world I like to dream about – only possible in early August, when confidence is high, possibilities are endless, and the alphabet puts us top of the league.
Some here would link future success to signings. If it were that easy then Manure and Shitty would win every year. I suspect Wenger will continue paying the long game. He would not overpay for a last season glory attempt at the expense of the long term future of the club. As a salutary lesson, look up what Peter Ridsdale and David O’Leary Leeds Utd 2001 where they bought high priced players in the hope of Champions League football. This resulted in a financial crisis at the club! So, all you people who castigate Wenger and Gazidis, think about this.… Read more »
I really respect Arsene and he has been such a massive influence on English football. He’s done so much for the club I love. I’d be blissed if we won the league title or even the champions league. AW you’re great at so many things but you’re pants at this transfer game #yagunnersya#COYG
Not as excited over this news as I would’ve been back in 04-09. Wenger has lost it. Sad, but true. You look at some of the comment he makes, you would never dare link that to him in the past. He doesn’t have the hunger to win. It’s all gone. It vanished after cesc and nasri left. Even if he gets a 5 year deal, he isn’t winning the league never mind the epl anytime soon.
It’s time people stop being nostalgic and faced facts.
As much as I have loved Wenger, I hope that he will go on after his contract ends. And that means not even in the position of technical director or something. Cruel as I sound, I am trying to be frank. 1) It’s time for fresh ideas to come in. A new manager after him will ought to do that. 2) Wenger no technical director / head of football? No. Simple. The new manager will have a tough time getting players he wants as Wenger would be hanging the negotiation. And you know how that would end…. (Unless he does… Read more »
This is no slight on Arsene but the time for new ideas at AFC is here. Yes, he may do the double and that may win him a new deal but at the end of the day, he will leave at some point and the club needs to look at it that way and get the best man possible to take over.
All the best of luck to him, he will mighty need it this season.
Sanchez and Ozil also have the responsiblity to lead the team to winning the league not that they are apart and will leave if things go wrong. What the team missed last season was Sanchez goals. Why would he blame others and leave ?
I don’t think any Arsenal fan wants us to blow money on crazy transfers but not addressing squad issues with a couple of obviously key signings that would make us genuine title contenders is criminal and that is what most of the Wenger out brigade have issue with!!! Unfortunately Wenger ain’t gonna change so the only solution is to change our manager at the end of this season!!!
I worry that his definition of a successful season is very different to that of the majority of fans.
We have to at least be in a title race til the bitter end.
As far as I’m concerned the only achievement that will make this season a success is winning the English premier league, or reaching, at least the semifinal of UCL. Anything less is a failure. I’m not going for champions league placing any more, that is no longer in vogue. So, for Wenger to keep this job on which his whole life seems to depends, he had better won the epl, and for him to achieve that he still has barely three weeks to strengthen his squad with at least a couple of quality players, a striker and a central defender.… Read more »
The only manager in works football who seems bigger than the club…
In fact he decides if/when he leaves….
I would think / hope that the definition of a successful season would be challenging for the title.
The competition is so fierce now that to class failing to win it as failure would be a bit harsh, but we should really be there or thereabouts. Depends a bit on how things play out I guess.
If some of our forward players had performed as well as they can and we had been a little more fortunate with injuries we would have done it last season. The potential certainly seems to be there.
Putting his job on the despite all the critics. That shows how much faith he has on its squad. Hope they will prove him right and land the premier league title. Only one AW!!!
His down fall could be of his own making and it’s not on how this season pans out but the previous 5! we have been 1 or 2 players short of squad completion in that time but has relied too much on pulling the rabbit out of the hat