Wenger encourages FA by saying: England’s my home, it’s a paradise for football
ARSENE WENGER insists England is ‘paradise’ for him and his football addiction — and that could be what convinces the 66-year-old to become the next manager of the Three Lions.
The Frenchman celebrated his 20th anniversary at Arsenal yesterday and the Premier League club want to tie Wenger down to a new deal, with his contract expiring at the end of this season.
Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke was in England last weekend to watch his club thrash Chelsea at the Emirates Stadium but has so far seen his manager resist putting pen to paper.
The opportunity to take over the national team this summer is tempting for Wenger, who admitted to seeing England as his home.
‘[It is] the passion for me,’ said Wenger ahead of their game against Burnley today. ‘It’s paradise for football. It’s as simple as that. It’s a country that has a real passion for being together at the spectacle. And football is the biggest one in England.
‘If you look at the Olympic Games, England was always sold out. If you look at the darts, it’s sold out. It’s love. They love it.
‘I’m here for 20 years. Twenty years, always sold out. Where do you find that? Nowhere.’
The FA approached Wenger before they appointed Sam Allardyce, who lost his £3million-per-year job this week following an undercover newspaper sting.
English football’s governing body are set to try again and are hopeful that he will at least be open to talks about taking over after Gareth Southgate’s interim spell.
Wenger previously pointed out he would not break his £8m-per-year contract at the north London club and so England would have to wait until the summer, when he is a free agent.
Wenger flirted with the FA at his Friday press conference but could simply be using the speculation to strengthen his bargaining position for a new deal at Arsenal.
Today, though, Wenger’s priorities are away from England as he travels to Lancashire in search of a fifth successive win in all competitions.
Arsenal have not been beaten since the opening day of the season — a 4-3 defeat by Liverpool in the Premier League — and want to be title contenders come May. One of the stars of that winning run has been Theo Walcott, who insists there is a change of mentality at the club which reflects his own new-found aggression and focus.
The winger, who missed the cut for Euro 2016 after falling out of form and favour for Arsenal at the end of last season, has hit four goals in the last three games.
‘As players, we don’t think we have anything to prove,’ Walcott said. ‘But we are experienced and we know this is such a big club and we know we should be doing better.
‘It’s easy to say that, but you look how we performed last year, even though we didn’t have a particularly great end of season we still finished second.
‘The way we’ve been performing — the intensity which we’ve been showing right from the start — catches a lot of teams by surprise now. Burnley won’t be looking forward to playing us, but we need to make sure we’re ready meet the different challenge.’
Burnley have impressed against Liverpool and in beating Watford on Monday and do not allow opponents to rest on the ball, but Walcott said: ‘They don’t but we don’t either. We don’t give any team the benefit of the doubt any more, and that’s the change in the mental state of Arsenal Football Club at the moment. We are very positive going into games.’
Asked about the need to win a Premier League title — Arsenal have not done so since 2004 — Walcott said: ‘I genuinely don’t think that far ahead.
‘You need to think about now, but come the end of the season then we’ll see where we are. We need to perform professionally at Burnley because that’s the important thing now.
‘The new signings have definitely helped. We are more and more experienced in the league now and [the intensity] starts from the front; the way we act when we lose the ball, when the opposition gets the ball and we do it as a unit. Everyone does it, not just one or two. We are all clicking at the same time and it bodes well.
‘Things are going well right now to be fair. We are working so hard in training as well and it’s nice to see it paying off.’
A win would be an appropriate present for Wenger on his anniversary weekend, following a Friday press conference that was unusual to say the least.
It started with an acceptance speech fit for the Oscars after he was presented with a crystal vase by Arsenal chairman Sir Chips Keswick — and ended with him fluttering his eyelashes at the FA.
For Wenger, it is 20 years down and only he knows whether a 21st will follow.