MERTESACKER LET’S DO WENGER PROUD
BFG’s rallying cry after boss stunned the dressing room with his quiet announcement: I’M QUITTING
PER MERTESACKER gave an emotional rallying cry to urge Arsenal’s players to ensure Arsene Wenger leaves on a high.
Wenger delivered his bombshell that he is leaving at the end of the season at the club’s London Colney training base just before 10am.
The Arsenal manager had been discussing his possible exit and the club’s future for several weeks before finally coming to an agreement.
Incredibly, they managed to keep it under wraps until yesterday morning when the staff and the players were told the news. First, Wenger gathered his staff together – including training ground coaches and medical personnel – and told them the news.
Then he told the players in the dressing room, addressing them very briefly and was quite abrupt. It was met with stony silence as players could not quite believe it.
Wenger told them: “We’ve got a season to finish, a trophy to win and I’m going to go and do this press conference.”
But it was at that point that veteran defender Mertesacker stood up, issued a rallying cry to the players and told them: “Let’s do Wenger proud.”
Arsenal had successfully managed football’s best-kept secret even though there was a club media day at the training ground. Mertesacker, known by Gooners as BFG, later said: “It was emotional [when Wenger made his speech]. It’s a sad feeling right now.
“He is the major figure of the club for more than 20 years.
“The final games under him will be emotional but we will give our all. We want to make things happen, to win every single game, to fight for this guy because he has brought so much to the club.
“It’s an honour to be involved in his last games and I say on behalf of the whole team, we will fight for every single day to make this season a success story in terms of lifting a title.
“We want to give Arsene Wenger a farewell story that no one will forget.”
The idea behind the announcement was to galvanise the whole club – players, fans and staff – to make sure a turbulent campaign ends well.
It is understood that the Arsenal hierachy, including majority shareholder Stan Kroenke, has been discussing the future for the past few weeks with Wenger, amid the growing concern about stay-away fans.
Last week was the deadline for Club Level season ticket sales, and it is believed the figures were down on previous years.
There had been an eight-year waiting list to get a season ticket, but suddenly fans were receiving calls asking if they
would be interested. That, as much anything else, set off alarm bells at the club that the falling level of support needed to be urgently addressed.
Wenger was understood to have been in good spirits at the training ground earlier in the week, telling those close to him he had no intention of resigning.
But after lengthy discussions, the board finally signed off an agreement with Wenger after a meeting on Thursday.
Another reason for making the announcement now – apart from adding extra motivation to the players to win the Europa League – is that the club can now start making approaches for other managers.
Arsenal have not decided on one overall favourite and will speak to up four candidates on a shortlist likely to come from Joachim Loew, Luis Enrique, Max Allegri, Mikel Arteta and Brendan Rodgers.
Although former skipper Patrick Vieira is admired, there were concerns that the New York City FC head coach lacked management experience at the highest level
Wenger, himself, has been widely tipped for Paris SaintGermain but it appears that Thomas Tuchel – a major contender previously for Arsenal – will get that job.
But sources close to Wenger insist that the Frenchman has had major job offers this season and wants to carry on working.