It was assumed when Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger stepped down after 22 years with the English Premier League club, he did so because he was retiring. But the 68-year-old told the media he has no intention of spending his remaining days rocking in a chair on a porch.
The Gunners boss, who won three titles and seven Football Association Challenge Cups, told a British television station that he isn’t ready to hang it up just yet, and wants to coach another team.
“That’s what I want in my life, I am a competitor who wants to be tested,” Wenger said. “I don’t know what will happen but I’m in front of an empty page and I have to write the next chapter. It is exciting now because I can be tested again.”
Getting Real with Madrid
When Zinedine Zidane shocked soccer by resigning as the Real Madrid manager just days after winning a third consecutive Champions League, Wenger’s name was immediately mentioned as one of the favorites to replace him.
Betfair has the Frenchman as the 5/2 favorite to land at the La Liga giant, and he has stoked speculation that he will end up there with recent comments to a British television station.
“Real Madrid I think I turned down two or three times you know,” Wenger said. “At the end of the day, I said no once, twice. I turned so many clubs down you could believe it. The daily involvement for me was important. At the end of the day, I was happy where I was as well.”
Now, however, with nothing keeping him, it might be the time Wenger goes after what he considers a dream job.
“It’s one of the teams I loved when I was a kid,” Wenger said. “I just felt that it was a very sensitive period for Arsenal Football Club. You are always tempted to go to Real Madrid because they offered me the chance to take control of the whole club.”
Coming to America?
With what Wenger has said publicly and privately, it’s hard to believe he wouldn’t take the Real Madrid job if offered. But if they go with someone else, where then could the legendary coach end up?
Perhaps surprisingly, Major League Soccer in the US is another possibility — an option that Betfair has at 3/1. With more and more Premier League players coming across the pond and finding success in the waning days of their career, than why not a coach?
The other possibility is that he could end up managing England’s national team, odds at 7/2 for that. The team is in the World Cup, and has the fourth best odds to win at 7/1 )behind Brazil and Germany at 4/1, and Spain at 6/1). If the Brits perform poorly, a change could be in store that leaves an opening for Wegner.
One place he will not be coaching, however, is somewhere else in the Premier League. After 22 years at Arsenal, Wenger said after his team’s finale that it would be difficult to face them.
