Arsene Wenger is keeping his own counsel and playing his cards close to his chest over all the speculation about whether or not he will sign a contract extension and stay on as the Arsenal manager for at least one more year after the current season.
There are reports in the football media that even those closest to the Frenchman do not know what he will decide and if that is the case then maybe he has not even made his own mind up yet and that is not good news for the club. As the former Arsenal and England defender Martin Keown explained in a Metro report, the board really need time to look for and appoint the right manager to take his place.
He said, “I do feel if he were to go now without any succession plan management from the club it would be too soon,’ he told the BBC. ‘I don’t think the board are yet ready, or this club is ready for him to leave. There’s a lot of thinking that needs to be done at a high level.
“Yes, the end is coming. But maybe another contract of one year, or two years. And he, Wenger, should be made to be a part of the management structure that comes in. Somebody in the same mould.”
But another former Gunner Ian Wright has stood by his prediction that Wenger is going to call it a day, even though the Frenchman played down these comments. If Wrighty is right then Arsenal have a problem and that may be why all the rumours about various different possible replacements are cropping up.
Allegri of Juventus, Thomas Tuchel of Dortmund and even a combination of Benitez and Thierry Henry are being mentioned, so do you think the board has been alerted and are now rushing to find the right man in case the boss does hang up his long coat at the end of this season?
Bob.