Arsenal chairman Ivan Gazidis has confirmed that the club are trying to prepare themselves for the departure of Arsene Wenger, but have no immediate plans to move on without him.
The French boss has been in charge of the club for 20 years now, helping the side to win three Premier League titles, as well as six FA Cup competition wins. His current contract is set to end at the end of next season, and the manager has confirmed that there is no extension available at present.
Wenger has come under fire in recent months, having seen his side stutter out of the Premier League title chase, despite all of their main rivals faltering this year. Leicester ended up as shock winners of the English top division, while Arsenal rallied to snatch second-place from neighbours Tottenham.
Many fans have called for the former Monaco chief to step down this summer, although some of those shouts have been calmed by their leapfrogging of rivals Spurs on the final gameweek of the term.
Despite the criticism of the coach, Gazidis has confirmed that the Arsenal backroom believe in Wenger, and they all see him as the best option to lead the club going forward. His age is the only cause for concern, and that will mean that he will have to one day step-down, but their working relationship will allow both parties to give each other plenty of notice when the time comes.
‘He’s in his mid-sixties, it’s natural to think about when his time here might come to an end, but the truth is nobody knows’ Gazidis said.
‘He is in fantastic shape. He is deeply engaged and excited. One of the biggest challenges we will face is the transition, whenever it happens, but that is not something we are going to be facing imminently.
‘Obviously, he is going to be managing us next year and we are planning and making many decisions for the long term.
‘The reality is we wouldn’t leave things until the last minute. I’m comfortable both that if Arsène is going to extend we will know that and if, whenever that is, he is going to come to an end, that he will give us the time that we need to prepare for that transition.
‘The relationship with Arsène is very deep. It will be done behind closed doors and we will have our transition plans well worked out.’
To me, this means that Wenger will be offered a new deal during the new season, but time will tell…
Who do you think is in mind to replace Wenger?
Pat J
If I was in charge and calling shots in the Arsenal board, I would’ve let Wenger go after his FA Cup win in 2014. He cannot do anything more to mentally motivate or grill the team anymore and we have been lucky to finish in the Top 4 for the past seasons due to the poor performances in the last weeks of the teams around us, helping us get there.
But I know that the next season is going to be a different monster. With the kind of managers in charge and the players touted to come in, I fear the absolute worse for Arsenal. If we keep up with this same attitude of being satisfied getting beat by teams like Swansea and celebrating finishing over Tottenham then I can’t even begin to tell you how long the season is going to feel next year.
I really really hope from the bottom of my heart that Wenger comprehends the enormity of his task as it is not going to be a cake walk with our current set of players like Walcott, Ramsey, Giroud, Flamini, etc. as I fear they will plummet under pressure from the fans and circumstances next season.
Lord Banter – I just wonder what are your credentials as a CEO of a major company and if you have ever run any football club let alone one of the top 4 in England and top 16 in Europe?
As for the managerial competition next season, sure that will improve, but for me that is when wenger might just get excited.
Well, it would be tough to argue about what the board should have done and it would be impossible to know how we would have coped with the transition, with a great example of Manchester United right in front of our eyes. But it’s a bit lucky to see that both Wenger and Simeone are in the last years of their contract at their respective clubs, so if i was in charge (i don’t have any credentials though), i would definitely try to poach Simeone as a replacement for AW and promote Wenger to the board level.
“If u faiL to pLan, U pLan to FaiL”..
– BenJamin FrankLin
By the current Look of things, we have no concrete pLan
– No plan for new management
– No plan for Targets and Top quality player recuit
– No plan for major Trophies
the onLy soLid plans we have is that of:
– Boosting Kroenke’s coffers and revenues
– Purchase of more Ranches
– Generation of uncome via player sales
– Ticket price elevation
– TV rights & sponsorship deals
Just the way it is…
Gazidi’s comments only cement the fact that Wenger is going to be around a lot longer that many of us would like. This will not be his last season trust me. He will most likely stick around for another two or three. Arsenal are not Chelsea or City where we can just throw top dollar at the Peps and Mourinihios. Who knew about Wenger before he joined way back when? He was a no name.
So we can expect the board and Kroenke to be very meticulous in their search for a new manager. It is not only that, but the manager who will replace him will be out under the same constraints as Wenger. This might be heaven for many managers who are earning a fraction of what Wenger is, but quite honestly all of the top managers today have a bottomless pit of money to spend on players. Arsenal simply don’t have that kind of collateral, so the chances of us landing a manager who is hell bent on winning titles is pretty slim.
Hope I am wrong. I suppose when we do get a new manager, we will see if his actions, especially those in the window are as slow and frustrating as Wenger’s.
The Euros are soon here and it’s pretty quiet on the Transfer front
I can only imagine how frustrated many on the Fanbase are at the moment
Thought we’ve Learned from past experiences….. Get ur business done in time b4 the price tag on players swell and burst at it’s seams……. I was wrong….
One thing’s for sure, the prices of good players before and after the Euros are not bound to be the same…
“An early bird, catches the worms”
Arsenal chairman is sir chips while the ceo is Gazidis…just thought you should know
All the talk talk about new managers coming is a bit exaggerated imo…
I mean Mou,Pep(new comer to EPL), and Conte(another new comer) all have very difficult jobs to do….they have major rebuilding to do…consider their squads very well and you will see..
If anything,the league has been poor since last season when Chelsea won it unchallenged, only Arsenal and Pool beat Leicester this season and Leicester were not even properly challenged too…
The next season is unpredictable
No one knows what will happen exactly….
As for Wenger, I don’t know what to say anymore because majority wants him in while only a few want him out…the only thing that is sure is that…He won’t stay more than 3years at Arsenal imo…..
Personally, I think Wenger’s contract won’t be extended by the end of next season. I think it will be the perfect timing for signing a perfect replacement for Wenger in the person of Diego Semione. Simeone is currently looking for a different challenge after he feels he has given his best for Athletico and as fate will have it, his contract is expiring at the end of next season just as Wengers.
And if you ask me he would be the best man to takeover the helms at the Emirates. He has all the qualities we need, he is young, he is passionate, he is competitive, he is technically and tactically sound, he is a leader who has the ability to pyche up his players for battle and infuse that mental strength and winning mentality we currently lack.
To make it even better he has a knack for building a winning side without breaking the bank, which am sure our board will love. So for me the end of next season will be the perfect timing to find the perfect replacement if not an upgrade for Wenger. If our board misses this opportunity we may live to regret it and may end up like Liverpool or United who failed to find adequate replacements for their long serving managers.
My personal opinion is that wenger has done a great job at arsenal. There was the early sucesses followed by years of financial restraint and selling our best players to fund the stadium. Arsenal were regarded as a selling club. We could have gone bankrupt.
Wenger could have left back in 2006 and gone to virtually any team in the world. He chose to stay and take us through a very difficult period.
There are many on here who say he should leave, the sooner the better and any manager would be an improvement. How about David Moyes, or Roberto Martinez who many have advocated on here in the past? Clearly we need a smooth, organised transition. Look what has happened to manu and this season to manc.
Personally I am not convinced that Wenger still has the ability to take us to the top. This season we could and should have won the PL. There were so many missed opportunities, winning away to pool and conceeding a late goal, winning by two goals at west ham and we draw, winning at home to swansea and we lose, the list goes on and on. We consistently bottled it.
Personally I think wenger should have left after the 2014 FA cup win. I just hope that when we come to appoint a new manager we are still a top four team, in the CL and able to attract a really top manager. The PL is hotting up with all the top managers moving in. Plus west ham will have loads more season ticket holders having been given the use of a new stadium for a peppercorn rent at the taxpayers expense. Everton are reportedly spending £100m plus what they can get for lukaku, then there are the newcomers to the top, leicester. We need a new top manager but for now have Wenger, I hope he proves me wrong and next season we will have a team with some fight and passion with a winning mentality.
we must go for vincent janssen or Arkadiusz Milik or Lukaku or Michy
Lukaku top target… but Janssen milik Michy looks Realistic…
Def Koulibaly
and get a perfect young Gk for future ” Dragowski ” let him grow under peter..
If we are unable to replace flamini and thomas from our academy players just go for
“Walace silva” A perfect player and he is gonna represent brazil now!!
According to rumours if we are gonna buy Lb, “Ricardo” is good but look out for “Kieran Tierney”
Cheers