Arsène Wenger has ruled himself out of the running to become the new manager of the French National team following the resignation of Laurent Blanc earlier this week. Several news reports suggest that Wenger is near the top of the French Football Federation’s list for Les Bleus manager, but Le Boss insists that he is completely committed to Arsenal.
Speaking to French Telefoot (a football programme on French TV station TF1), Wenger confirmed that he will (at least) see out the remaining two years of his contract in North London.
“There are a lot of names. But me, I will be very busy with Arsenal where my contract still runs for two years”
Photo by RonMac on Flickr
I have read several comments on major news websites in which people say that this is the perfect opportunity to “get rid” of the best manager that Arsenal Football Club have ever seen. I am not one of those AKB people who insists that Wenger is always right, but I hate that there is still a small group of so-called Arsenal fans who want him out. Hasn’t he done enough to prove his worth at the club? There isn’t a single club in the world who wouldn’t be desperate to have Arsene Wenger as manager; Les Bleus would be lucky to find a manager who is half as good. Being France boss at the moment is the equivalent of managerial-suicide. The team lies in ruins and God knows what has been going on behind the scenes. In spite of this, Wenger is probably the man that could turn everything around.
However, but I can think of 3 reasons why he wouldn’t leave Arsenal at this point:
1) Arsene is not the type of manager who would leave when he still has 2 years on his contract (as his comment above suggests). Once he is committed, he stays.
2) He needs to finish what he started. I don’t think that he would find it acceptable to leave Arsenal until he proves his point by winning some much-needed/deserved silverware to add to the 3 Premier League titles and 4 FA Cups he has won since he joined the club in 1996. If he won another major trophy with Arsenal then maybe he would consider managing at a national level in the future.
3) Arsenal would be stupid to let him leave when he appears to be so close to creating a trophy-winning formula.
So there you have it. Wenger isn’t leaving, and I look forward to seeing what changes he makes to the team over the summer. This has the potential to be a defining period for Arsenal. Giroud and Podolski are, hopefully, only the beginning.
Whether you are one of the Arsene Knows Best group, or want him out of the club, please leave your comments below.
