Legendary Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, 67, could be calling it quit at the north London club at the end of the 2016-17 season having overseen the Gunners’ affairs for 2 decades. The French tactician is currently running out the last year on his current contract, and isn’t willing to put pen to paper for a contract extension until the end of the season.
It’s unknown if Wenger will call time on his managerial career altogether if he chooses to leave Arsenal next summer, but French outfit and Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain, have already shown long-standing interest in luring him to the Parc des Princes, and managing the perennial local champions could prove a good option for him before retirement.
Arsene Wenger has a very brilliant curriculum vitae, and though he might have briefly forgotten how to win titles since 2004, yet a return to the Ligue 1 since 1994 could be the exact move he needs to start winning big again.
The F.A and Community Shield aren’t trophies worthy enough of a special mention in Wenger’s long list of stellar achievements, but they are the only accolades he now looks capable of successfully contesting for.
A move to PSG would be that fresh challenge Wenger badly needs in order to start all over again. A continued stay at Arsenal seems to have been the problem for so many reasons, complacency being the biggest of them.
The EPL is now too familiar with Wenger and vice versa, hence he appears seemingly bereft of the necessary ideas and tactics needed to inspire an Arsenal side he has gotten overfamiliar with, and vice versa to a strong title challenge.
There is also the complacency that comes with Wenger’s job security. Arsenal will never sack Wenger, and a top-four finish guarantee looks to be doing the trick every now and then. These are enough hurdles hard for the French tactician to cross successfully, and the best way to draw the curtain on his managerial career to highest ovation is by bowing out on the highest note.
That won’t be happening at Arsenal, as 10 years is more than enough time to try. At PSG, not only is more Ligue 1 titles possible, he has a bigger and realistic chance to land the biggest club trophy, which has always eluded him. It’s been a decade since he got closest to winning one, and it’s an ambition and burden both the French club and the manager can share together if a move works out.
Arsenal currently are stalling as per handing Sanchez and Ozil improved contracts, with both not reneging on their demands for nothing less than £250,000 in weekly wages. The Gunners aren’t big spenders, and that has undoubtedly hindered them of recent. That inability to compete on such financial front with the big boys has seen them become only worthy of contesting for 2nd best.
PSG are always eager to spend and break the bank to seal any deal. Over there, Wenger would be able to land whichever player he desires without the fear of huge transfer fees or enormous wages and add-ons. That ability to control the transfer market in a way he hasn’t been able to will go a long way in taking him to the very peak of managerial achievements.
He might have changed how football is viewed in England, set and broken enviable records, oversee the development of the countless young players into world beaters, but that absence of a Champions League medal in his hugely decorated shelf is forever a flaw on what is nearly a perfect career.
The chances of clinching it are higher at PSG. He will also definitely feel the pressure to deliver at a club his job isn’t guaranteed. There are a new set of fans willing to see him succeed but also not ready to see him make decisions that wouldn’t go down well with the club’s pursuit of the ultimate club success – the Champions League.
Back home in France would be a perfect place to retire and eventually retire to after his managerial career that has spanned over 3 decades, and there is a feeling a new challenge might just be all he needs for a final shot at that European glory and some more league titles.