Arsene Wenger has hinted that he has no plan to walk away from Arsenal before the end of his current two-year deal by highlighting the fact he’s always respected the contracts he’s signed.
The Frenchman is under pressure to deliver Champions League next season, either by finishing in the Premier League’s top four or by guiding the Gunners to a first European trophy of his 21-year tenure.
Several articles in yesterday’s press hinted that a failure to reach European football’s top competition could see the plug pulled this summer on the 68-year-old’s time at the Emirates.
True or not, Wenger insists he’s still committed to the Arsenal cause and the matter of winning tonight’s Europa League game against Ostersund.
“I always respected my contracts, I would like to remind you,” he told beIN SPORTS.
“I said no to all the clubs in the world, to all the biggest clubs, to respect my contract. That’s what I always try to do.
“After that, we have as well to accept in our job that the future is the future. For me, the future is to win our next game.”
On what his players need to do between now and the end of the season, he added: “We have to perform better in every single game and we have to show until the end of the season a complete hunger to win every single game. That’s what it’s about for us.
“Have the players who’ve come in got the quality to give us something special? Yes, but it’s for us to now prove that on the field.
EXCLUSIVE: "I said no to all the biggest clubs in the world."@Arsenal reportedly have an 'exit strategy' in place for Arsene Wenger this summer… but the Frenchman reveals he wants to honor the remainder of his 2-year deal.#AFC pic.twitter.com/DfFvy3KeEz
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) February 15, 2018
On whether he considers his squad to be stronger now then it was before the January transfer window, he added: “Yes, but that’s all to prove now. I say yes, but we lost the game at Spurs 1-0, so overall we’ll have to show [that] until the end of the season.”
Awesome – We are back on this – will he be asked this every week until he re – signs in 18 months?
Maybe. If it bothers you that much, don’t click on the article.
Thats not the point though is it?
I think what is more important is not what Wenger is planning but what the board are. If Arsenal do finish 6th and don’t win the Europa League (League cup not being in anyway of relevance win or lose the final), the decision should be made for him.
Agreed – the board should agree with him the success criteria, based on their support for him and then act accordingly. That’s what big businesses do.
but arsenal had a NET PROFIT ON TRANSFERS between summer and winter windows….
That is 18th in the spend league table.
https://talksport.com/football/transfer-net-spend-every-premier-league-club-both-summer-and-winter-201718-windows?p=2
Am i taking crazy pill here? The fan base continues to attack the one man who has the least to do with our failings….
you are cherry picking without looking much into it. arsenal made a net profit because this year we sold many players including some very good players who would’ve stayed were it not for our abyssmal performance like chamberlein and giroud. it also helped that for some of our high profile purchases we got our man without spending a penny like mkhithriyan and kolanasic. you take any other season since we started buying ozil we would be spending more that we take in. also if you look at another stat of spending , which is amount of salary we spend on… Read more »
The decision should be made to him anyway.
Yup. Rinse repeat.
I just want it to stop being boring!
There are strong rumours that he actually has a one year contract, not two, and that this will be his last year at Arsenal. He is saying 2 years as a smokescreen. If you see the changes taking place the signing of one of the best scouts and footballing directors in world football, power is being wrestled away from Wenger, which of course he does not like. Gazidis is the guy Kroenke does not want to lose because of his negotiating power with sponsorships and marketing. So Gazidis is in a strong position. These are the catalysts for change. Wenger… Read more »
It would be very much unlike Wenger to leave before the end of his contract. I also believe we should give him a proper sendoff and put aside all the disgraceful Wenger Out stuff we’ve seen. When the decision to go is made, the board should announce it formally and let us know when the last season will be so that every game can be cherished. He’ll be missed when he is gone, that is for sure.
What Arsenal fan would down vote that?
One with her own mind, and differing viewpoint from you. One that maybe wants/hopes for a smooth, planned transition. One that realizes there are not just a handful of ready replacements and so these things can take time. And one that realizes that manager sacking almost never results in a squad immediately doing better.
I’d say any Arsenal supporter thinking any of those thoughts. For what its worth, I, too, agree its high time AW exits. But people are allowed to think differently. Just saying….
But i don’t get why the disapproval for giving the man a proper send off – when/if the board decide to change manager.
people disagree with the idea that wenger should be given another season simply to do a farewell tour. Wenger has done great things and should be given a statue. but in a lot of ways its an insult both to the club and to the man himself if we have reached the point where people think that current results shouldn’t matter. Wenger is a competitive man and the goal of Arsenal is to compete for the PL. If he can no longer cut it at the top level (which he clearly can’t based on fact that we haven’t been close… Read more »
It’s completely ridiculous to give a manager another season just so you can have a respectable send off. Player careers are short. At the end of next season; Ozil, Mkhi and Aubamayeng will be in their 30s. Kos will be at the tail end of his career. You don’t waste a season to be nice to a manager. No offence to Wenger of course.
Fans will give him a proper send off regardless. AW himself declined multiple chances of a proper send off in the last 3 years. If, when he does leave, the send off is not as warm as it would have been a year ago, or even 3 years ago, or even 5 years ago, that will be on AW, not any fan wishing to see change now.
@Double98 ‘What Arsenal fan would down vote that?” The majority of online commentators, unfortunately. Probably a lot of fans under the age of 35 too, at a guess. Everyone just can’t wait to have a revolving door if managers it seems.
As blogs has pointed out though, announcing that a manager is leaving at the end of a year rarely works well. Ferguson has talked about how when he announced he was leaving (changed his mind) a few years before he did how that was one of the worst mistakes he ever made. Wenger did great things for Arsenal in the past, but it’s not clear that at this point he still has earned the right to decide his own future. Results the past 2 years have not been close to the required standard, and worryingly the team appears to be… Read more »
Must he respect his contract even when he is failing, other managers get kicked out and that should be Wenger’s treatment.
while i agree we should give a proper sendoff , it can only happen if wenger decides to leave. it will never happen . he is a competitive man , he wants to keep on fighting even if it means he is not able to. so he will just keep on asking new contracts until he gets it right which will never happen based on his ability. if he dont want to leave after two consecutive years without champions league when do you think he will decied to leave. I can only this ending one way, board refusing wenger a… Read more »
why would he? The board has begged him to sign the contract extension when we had the worst season in 20 years.
Why would he? under what circumstances should he?
Is there some moral imperative on him to walk away from a job he loved?
We might think hes doing a bad job, but from his perspective he is not. He is clearly operating satisfactorily to his bosses.
Has the board sacked him? has the board asked him to move aside as they have a better candidate?
THIS IS NOT NEWS.
“Man refuses to walk away from lucrative job he loves”
Selfish greedy man then. Not quite the love for the club he keeps ringing out for sympathy
Get a job!
But say you were wenger and the only thing between you and an Ivan Gazidas managerial appointment was you.. would you quit?
Maybe wenger is holding waiting for a credible successor?
Ivan meanwhile is sounding out joachim lowe and other chaps that eat their own poops.
Another season for us to fall further behind our rivals then.
What makes you think that simply hiring a new manager will make any difference in terms of how far behind our rivals we are? I think closing the gap is a business decision that involves changing the way the club is run and the way its owners invest in it. It has very little to do with Arsene Wenger. To put it simply: When Kroenke decides to match the investments Abramovich makes, the gap will begin to close.
Yeah, absolutely LEFT08. I mean there’s no way Arsene could have spent the money available to him any better….or improved the players he does have any more than he already has…..or get his team any better mentally, tactically & physically prepared for every single game. (especially away from home)
LOL spent nealy 200mil plus in years but cant do better than we are doing??? Have you watched arsenal this season? if so your delusional to think another manager with a abit of nouse could do worse! 6th ffs with a bottom half team goal difference … worst season in 20 years
I dont want to speak for left08 but the point he was making is that the problem cannot be fixed by changing the manager. Spent 200m and took back what 180m?
Our billionaire owner has not dug into his pockets once.
City has a bench that’s worth more than most squads outside the top 6.
Chelsea have more value out on loan than most clubs inside the top 6.
Mourinho has spent more since he arrived at man u than wenger has in 21 years at arsenal
Double98, those figures are clearly false. It”s a 200m net spend, not 200m less 180m.
Or here – we have a net profit of 3 odd million
https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/fc-arsenal/transfers/verein/11/saison_id/2017
It’s 200 millions in 7 years
How much more investment do you want? We have broken our tranfer record twice in less than a year and we are still going backwards. How much do we have to spend to beat Swansea, Bournemouth, Notts Forest, WBA? Continually spending on attacking players and ignoring the rest of the team will not improve the situation. There is no guarantee that changing the manager will improve things but being afraid to change when things are not working is a guaranteed way of not improving.
We have broken our transfer record twice and recouped the money by selling shed loads of players….
We are in the black…
thats gazidas and kroenke… because wenger didnt want to sell ox, sanchez or giroud
So we’re only talking about one season now when it suits your narrative ? What about the 200m net spend the previous 3 seasons when the team regressed despite this – irrelevant?
No were near a net spend of 200 million.
Total spend of 200 million
2017 107 (110)
2016 97 (10)
2015 23 (2)
So a net spend over 3 season of about 100m
I did say the previous 3 seasons. Add in the 88m for 14-15 & it’s close to 200m net.
So its 4 seasons then mr narrative adjuster
Not adjusting my narrative at all. I stated something, you misread it & I pointed out you had misread it.
All this is kinda missing the point anyway. Arsene no longer buys well (regardless of whether we can agree on how much he has spent), he no longer improves individual players the way he used to & he no longer puts together a team with a coherent, attractive style of football. We’re not a great team & we are also quite regularly desperately boring to watch.
Sanchez is hardly setting the world on fire at old trafford – and in fact he’s been largely mediocre. Aubamayang, Mkitharian, LaCassette – Arsene buys well there. Positionally Auba for sanchez is great. We have swapped an explosive alley cat for a slick panther Over the last 4 yrears – He really got only got Xhaka wrong – and maybe Szcezny. Monreal, Bellerin, Ramsay, AMN, are all players that have improved. But i agree we are boring to watch. I agree with a lot of what you say but i cannot accept that a change of manager will impact the… Read more »
Conveniently forgetting ox didn’t want to stay with aw and signed for pool on less money
Isn’t Spurs a lot behind our budget??
no – they made a net loss of about 20 mill – we made a net profit of 3
And the previous 3 seasons their net spend was about 15m compared to our roughly 190m….not to mention their significantly lower wage bill……
LOL – how can any other manager possibly do better with this team than languish at 6th losing every away game and the occasional home game to go with it, and missing out on CL again, and failing to launch a serious title challenge again. I mean, how can ANYONE do any better than this with all the money and prestige of the Arsenal?
With the greatest of respect to a man who has had such a profound effect on our great club, the issue is not Wenger respecting his contract but rather whether the club chooses to do so. There is not a single club in the upper levels of global football where the manager’s fate is not linked to results, and that Arsene has become synonymous with Arsenal is not, I would suggest, a healthy situation. Unless something spectacular happens, I do hope that the men in grey suits running the club act like adults and politely but firmly tell Wenger that… Read more »
If the manager’s fate is linked to results, surely Pochetino’s zero trophies should see him sacked before Wenger who has won proper competitions in the last few years.
Do you remember that top 4 spot that wasn’t a trophy… well its a trophy now that we didn’t win it…
The men in those grey suits have used him like a mudguard for a decade now. He is the buffer between them and the frustrated fan and the scoffing media. Stan Kroenke is a crap owner – he has been with all franchises he has owned Ivan Gazidas is a crap CEO he has never held that position before and the MLS profit machine SUM has excelled since he left.
Wenger has been a outstanding manager within a different structure.
While i am all for change. make it start above wenger –
Slow afternoon at the chippy?
http://basementrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/doctor-who-season-1-2-the-end-of-the-world.jpg
Wenger 2065
I do think he’ll go this summer. That’s not incompatible with adhering to his contract.
He’d still be keeping to his contract if he was moved into a board/consultant role upstairs for the club.
He’s earned that.
Clickbait and commentbait.
Cue lots of both on the most contentious issue at Arsenal.
Commentbait? So something that could inspire debate? How is that a bad thing these days?
Agreed if the comments and debate was a debate and actually got us anywhere.
Read the comments above and below, is anyone getting anywhere, influencing anyone (especially the only ones that can actually do anything)? AKBs vs AMGs all getting angrier (there are comments above with 60+ up- and down-votes), that’s all that is happening.
Jaysus not this BS again.
Gazidis is a spineless douche bag. Its all ass covering b/c he’s got the mental abilities of a freaking 4th grader. I’d like to see both of them flogged off when AW’s contract ends (or perhaps this summer – depending how the cups end up).
Oh boy! Here we go again. He might sign a 10 year extension and he’ll still be asked the same question and he’ll still repeat the same answer.
In my opinion, the board needs to put their foot down and give a clear directive to Arsene-Win a trophy this season or we’ll have to look for other options this summer.
But knowing our spineless board, they’ll probably offer him a contract extension irrespective of what happens while conveniently doubling their own salaries and continue like nothing’s changed
Someone should tell him that the rest of us are planning for an “early” yet long overdue exit.
Is this the first time, that Wenger is under pressure in public, in his time at Arsenal?
I hope it ends gracefully for both.
My personal preference is Wenger gets a role upstairs with a clean break from managing the team. He is knowledgeable and cares about Arsenal to have declined the offers from other clubs.
Getting pretty bored of how the great Arsene Wenger turned down all the best clubs in the world to stay with poor little Arsenal.
The guy never took the big jobs because he knew one bad season or less he would be sacked whereas at Arsenal all he had to do is make profit.
I said no to all the clubs in the world, to all the biggest clubs, to respect my contract.
In the last eight years? None of these clubs want you. None of the clubs slightly lower than this want. You’re not wanted here. Just leave.
A little harsh my friend after what he has undeniably done for this club.
I think you’re right Peter. It truly pains me to say it. Nonetheless…
Yesssssssss 18 months of more humiliation. I can’t wait!
Yes he respects his contracts but there is a time to end his contract and that is at the end of this season. Wenger must go!
Big clubs that once came knocking at his door cannot come now. Wenger as a coach is finished! Time for change!
Wenger has no right to believe he is irreplaceable.
Contracts can be repudiated. Contracts are not written in stones.
This man is deluded! Wherever you go or whatever job you do , you are judged on performance. Wenger is stale and gone bad.He will win nothing this season.
There are talks of conte getting the sack after winning the title at chelsea against all odds and keeping the in the top four this season amid all the backroom politics.No talk of wenger getting the sack RIGHT NOW from any paper despite our relegation form in away matches since last season.Unlike a lot of others i believe weenger merited the chance to make one final attempt for title after the drought ending FA cup win.that circle ended last season.he bought player in every position (ozill,sanchez,xhaka,mustafi,cech,welbeck,perez) he had the team that he wanted (more or less). he failed.There shouldve been… Read more »
We really don’t mind if you don’t honour your contract.
He won’t say it but it seems like he is a bit more in cruise control these days. The January window is indication of it as he took his hands off and let Mslintat and co do the work (perhaps a little too much) As with everything, I think it depends how we end the season. Minimum now looks like Europa and the CL spot. Top 4 is still possible but difficult (and in any case has lost its allure. Caribao cup is not much even if we should have scalped some big teams on the way. To me, we… Read more »
No one would take him now that’s for sure.
It’s almost as though he hears the opposition fans singing ‘we want you to stay’ and he’s ‘these guys get it’ they respect me