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Wenger's time at Arsenal almost at an end
Matt Bungard
Roar Guru
30th April, 2013
11
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Matt Bungard
Roar Guru
30th April, 2013
11

The brilliant 17-year run in charge of Arsenal Football Club could be about to come to an end for Arsene Wenger.

The latter part of the Frenchmen’s reign has been hampered by an astonishing seven seasons without a trophy, the constant tightening of the purse strings from above his head and star player after star player leaving to chase more money and fame elsewhere.

We shouldn’t linger on the second half of his tenure, which was stricken with controversial player movements and disappointment.

We should remember the man who forever changed the way football was played in England.

The man who won three league titles and four FA Cups, including, of course…the 2003-04 season when his team became the first to go through the league undefeated in an astonishing 115 years.

But now, the new money giants of Paris Saint-Germain loom in the wings, with Carlo Ancelotti confirming he won’t be back, Wenger has become their prime target. And it’s a chance for him to experience management in his home country for the first time since 1994 when he was the manager of AS Monaco.

Also far more importantly to him I would think, is the chance to manage a club with a seemingly endless supply of money. It would be a polar opposite to the situation he’s had to endure at Arsenal for so long.

He’d inherit a squad with some of the world’s best players – Ibrahimovic his new Henry, Lavezzi the new Pires and Thiago Silva his new Tony Adams. (Just in terms of position, I’m aware these players are nothing alike)

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And it wouldn’t stop there. He’d have to power to bring in any player he wanted, and to keep them at the club for his tenure.

There would be no Alex Song, Cesc Fabregas or Robin van Persie incidents – and it would give him the chance to chase that elusive Champions League title – something he got closest to when his Gunners lost in the 2006 final to Barcelona, after taking the lead early on.

It would probably be quicker to construct a list of players NOT linked to PSG in the last few months, but some of the bigger names who have been strongly connected with the Parisians include; Wayne Rooney, Nani, Samir Nasri, Edinson Cavani and even Cristiano Ronaldo.

Of course, most rumours are just that. But even to add one of the players on the list would further strengthen the squad who pushed Barcelona to the limits in the Quarter Finals of the Champions League just a few weeks ago.

And if I were Wenger, at this point I’d be completely sick of the British Media, who have hounded him relentlessly from the day he arrived in relative obscurity, from the vaunted Grampus Nagoya of the J-League.

I thought Wenger should have been moved on three seasons ago. At the time it was an unpopular opinion, but one that has just gotten more and more support as the trophyless seasons have piled up.

(Having Piers Morgan stick his over-entitled two cents in on twitter after every loss can’t be helpful, either.)

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Overall it seems like this is the only solution going forward for Arsenal, a once great club that has stagnated for so long.

Let’s just hope the man that brought them to the mountain top and kept them there for several years is remembered that way…and not for what’s happened since.

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