Arsenal balls: Wenger to PSG is back on
Good news for those Arsenal fans who can’t abide Arsene Wenger. The Sun leads with news that Paris Saint-Germain want the Arsenal manager to lead their brand. The French are “confident” of getting their man, having failed in two previous bids.
“AW REVOIR,” says the Sun over two more pages. “Time’s ripe for Arsene Wenger’s return to France.” Or maybe he’s past its sell-by date.
No, says Mack Irwin. The “self-entitled” Arenal fans who demonstrate for Wenger’s departure are fools. As “another season of disappointment beckons” Irwin wonder if Wenger has the “appetite to put up with the microscopic scrutiny of his methods”. Arsenal fans will add another question: does Wenger still inspire his team, the fans and the club?
Wenger’s £160,000-a-week deal ends at the end of this season. The club is “in the dark” about his future plans. But if the Frenchman fails to make Arsenal challenge for the Premier League and Champions’ League titles “it will be hard to see how Arsenal or Wenger could justify another new contract”. So much for fans being self-entitled to expect more.
Phil McNulty has a little on what Arsenal fans have been getting:
In the 12 seasons since Arsenal last won the title, in only two of those campaigns has the margin between the Gunners and the champions been in single figures. Twice the gap has been more than 20 points – so a systematic pattern has emerged rather than an extended hard luck story.
As to why PSG wants Wenger and Wenger would want PSG, the Sun says Paris would give him loads of money to go on a spending spree and, er, he likes Paris.
Over in the Mail, four of the paper’s pundit says Arsenal will finish no higher than third this season.
But it’s far from doom and gloom at Arsenal. Wenger has always been an optimist. In defeat he manages to inject circumspection and togetherness into the analysis. Can he bring Arsenal to the boil? Can Chelsea wobble and the Gunners go on a run? Vitally, do the players believe they can do it?
Posted: 22nd, December 2016 | In: Arsenal, Back pages, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
