WENGER FIGHTS BACK
As he vows to work on, PSG may provide a sudden escape route And Tuchel, Benitez, Allegri ... to whom will Arsenal’s board turn?
SO now we know for sure: Arsene Wenger is not about to chuck it all in. And, whatever happens, this decision is not going to be made easy for Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis, the man responsible for delivering owner Stan Kroenke’s decision on Wenger’s future.
The manager intends to go on and on, as former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once famously said. On Friday he was happily contemplating managing another four years, citing old rival Sir Alex Ferguson as a reference point.
Wenger had been asked whether the Ivy League lecture circuit appealed, one of the activities Sir Alex has embraced in retirement. Maybe Wenger could also deliver the odd speech in Qatar, where he is already richly rewarded for his work with TV station beIN Sports? He dismissed the notion.
‘Alex Ferguson has some other interests in life and he was older than I am today,’ he said. ‘He was four years older. He retired at 71 and I’m 67.’ So four more years? ‘Maybe more, maybe less,’ said Wenger. ‘I don’t know. Everybody is different on that front and I do not want to take anything away from Alex Ferguson, he was an absolutely unbelievable manager but he’d had enough. I’m not at that stage.’ In what had been a tense Press conference, he suddenly smiled.
‘If you have a team maybe you can employ me?’ he said mischievously and suddenly he was again the calm, unruffled figure in control of his destiny rather than the seemingly hapless manager on the bench at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday.
‘Is that a threat?’ he was asked, jocularly. And he seemed affronted. ‘No, it’s not a threat, not at all. My preference is always to manage Arsenalt. I think I am adult enough to analyse the situation.’
And with that he didn’t so much as put the ball back into Gazidis’ court, as smash a shot into the very far corner with unplayable top spin.
Those at the club believe that he was close to calling it a day, even before the awful second half performance in Munich. A 5-1 defeat and almost certain exit at the Champions League last 16 stage for the seventh consecutive year intensified that feeling. Wenger himself says he will make a decision next month or in April.
And yet he will not disappear quietly. Wenger, as if we didn’t know it, loves to manage. He said once before that he had no hobbies in the way that Sir Alex had horse racing as a fall-back option; he does not know what will occupy his time when he retires and fears that moment. He joked that he could ride horses, rather than watch them, he grew up on a farm after all. But anyone expecting to see him trotting around Trent Country Park on Saturdays next year is mistaken.
That said, it may well be that his time at Arsenal is coming to an end. Senior sources within the club believe it is. Agents who are well connected have sounded out alter- natives as they must, given the uncertainty. Borussia Dortmund’s Thomas Tuchel and Newcastle’s Rafa Benitez are among those being considered. Atletico Madrid’s Diego Simeone, 46, too, though it is understood his playing style — more direct, ironically more British — counts against him.
But Tuchel, 43, has never won a cup and his Borussia Dortmund are struggling this season, third in the Bundesliga and 13 points off the lead despite the second biggest budget. He is a quiet, methodical coach, no Jurgen Klopp in terms of personality, though that might suit the sleepy Arsenal board.
Benitez, 56, does not have a reputation for free-flowing football, though Arsenal fans might appreciate a degree more steeliness in the side. He would also offer the likelihood of getting to the business end of the Champions League, as well as the expected top-four finish. And his sides have never been dull, though they do attack from a solid defensive foundation. Among the other leading contenders is Juventus’s Max Allegri, 49, learning English and keen to follow Antonio Conte into English football. He is a threetime winner of Serie A and a Champions League runner- up in 2015.
Portuguese Leonardo Jardim is building a superb team at Monaco. At 42, he is still early in his career. He probably would have won the Greek title in 2012-13 with Olympiacos but was controversially sacked in January of that season, despite being 10 points clear.
If he takes the French title this year, ahead of Paris Saint-Germain, and performs well against Manchester City this week, he will strengthen his reputation as one of the best new generation of coaches. Back in 1996 former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein persuaded his board to gamble on a bright young thing who had made his name at Monaco and that turned out rather well.
Arsenal supporters talk of Jorge Sampaoli, 56, the Argentine in charge of Sevilla, who impressed with Chile at the 2014 World Cup and is challenging Real Madrid and Barca for La Liga. However, he has bigger jobs in mind. Luis Enrique is expected to leave Barcelona at the end of the season and Sampaoli is favoured by Lionel Messi.
Everton’s Ronald Koeman, 53, might be considered. Like Benitez he has Premier League experience, so there would be no tricky bedding-in period as there has been for Pep Guardiola or was for Louis van Gaal.
Having struggled at Valencia nine years ago — though he did win the Copa del Rey and, frankly, who doesn’t struggle at Valencia? — he is on the cusp of being considered by the elite clubs again, though Barce- lona are not expected to take him this summer, despite his legendary status as a player at the Nou Camp.
Gazidis must make Arsenal’s choice but do so in the knowledge that Wenger would be elsewhere, not enjoying a quiet retirement at his home in an exclusive village in the north London suburbs. Wenger’s close links to Qatar mean that PSG always remains an option for him. Their owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi is also the chief executive of Wenger’s other employer, beIN Sports.
Until last Tuesday’s extraordinary 4-0 win for PSG over Barcelona, it was assumed that coach Unai Emery would struggle to retain his job, as befits as a man who lies second, four points behind Monaco, despite a wage bill three times larger.
Much depends on the return legs of those two Champions League results. No-one expects Arsenal to turn their tie around and judging by the number of fans trying to re-sell tickets on the club’s website, there may not be many hard-core supporters at the Emirates. Indeed, Arsenal don’t have a home game until Bayern come to town on March 7. Just before that, they travel to Liverpool, where it is possible that a Klopp-induced gegenpressing whirlwind may blow them away again.
The mood of fans when they arrive for the Bayern game and for Leicester a few days later will be crucial.
Those who know Wenger well say that, for all his coolness under pressure, the growing hostility will be decisive in determining his decision. He does not want to continue if he feels the majority of fans don’t wish it. He is wise enough to avoid hanging around. And yet, when it comes to it, can he really give up the club to which he has given 21 years of his life? As he cannot retire, perhaps Barcelona’s clash with PSG that week will be equally important.
While Arsenal’s task is impossible, if Andres Iniesta gets hold of the Barca dressing-room seemingly disillusioned with Enrique, there is no knowing what they might do at the Nou Camp. Certainly 4-0 wouldn’t be beyond them.
Then the consequences of PSG failing might reverberate all the way to north London. An escape route might open up for Wenger. It is not what Arsenal’s board would have in mind but may be the most dignified and appropriate exit possible.