Arsene Wenger has been a myth for the Gunners for over two decades now. Since his appointment as Arsenal boss back in 1996, the Frenchman has enriched the Premier League with exquisite football and ‘The Invincibles’ who helped them lift the league title back in 2003-04. But things have changed in recent past and the fans are now longing to see a managerial change in order to achieve major honours with philosophical alteration.
Wenger, who was influenced by Ajax’s “total football” at a very young age, has successfully replicated the strategy during his managerial career. He has experimented with various formations and never been mulish to welcome modern approach. Despite debates and controversies, he clung to certain philosophies and preferred training over transfers throughout his realm. He also favoured youth development in place of spending big, unlike few Premier League rivals. His credo and insight earned him high acknowledgement and placed him among world’s elites.
But things have changed; money has become a key attribute of success and silverware. Teams like Chelsea, Manchester City have become European giants banking on investment whereas, Wenger stuck to his ideology and refrained Gunners from spending high. Thus, Arsenal lagged behind and although Wenger has focused on bringing big names recently, several Premier League sides have already overtaken the Gunners in the title race.
A flying start of a campaign that is marred by injuries midway and bottling their title hopes after choking in crunch time – this has been the story of Arsene’s Arsenal lately. Somehow, they become monotonous after a few months despite being considered as one of title favourites at the start of a particular campaign. Wenger has never failed to finish beyond fourth in the league, but a qualification in the prestigious Champions League campaign didn’t help him either- Arsenal are yet to win this distinguished honour.
However, a couple of concerns have jeopardised his position as Arsenal manager. During his 20 years of tenure, the Frenchman has failed to keep hold of his star performers and traded them to fierce rivals – Robin Van Persie, Ashley Cole, Bacary Sagna, Gael Clichy, Samir Nasri, Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure etc are to name a few. As per latest reports, players like Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, who are considered to be the Gunners’ backbone, are refusing to sign a new deal in order to keep their options open.
Also, despite monitoring potential youths throughout his career, Wenger failed to conclude a deal for the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Didier Drogba, Angel Di Maria, Yaya Toure and N’Golo Kante who are treated as world’s greatest footballers of the current time. In addition to it, Wenger has repeatedly failed to deal with significant injury concerns that has ruined his title hope in consecutive campaigns due to significant absentees.
In an era of spending, Wenger is still holding out his old school philosophy that is neither helping him nor Arsenal. Fans are getting impatient and infuriated. At the age of 67, time is ticking for the Gunners’ boss who is running out of options and his legacy might come to an end if he fails to obtain any silverware at the end of this campaign.
