REPORT: Ivan Gazidis Talks About Wenger’s Exit

Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis warned the fans that life may be difficult after Wenger leaves the club.

Arsene Wenger

Gazidis said in a recent interview,

“The biggest challenge we’re going to face as a club is that transition from Arsene to the next manager,” said Gazidis.

“We have a giant who’s managing us. Arsene has put the club in a great, great position.”

After taking charge of Arsenal in 1996, Wenger is currently the longest-serving manager in the premier league.  Under his guidance, Arsenal have qualified for UEFA champions league for a record breaking 17 years in a row. In 2003/04 season, his invincibles side managed to win the league title without a single defeat.

Following a nine year gap, Wenger guided his side to an FA Cup triumph in May thanks to Aaron Ramsey’s extra time goal against Hull City. Apparently, things were starting to look bright for the Gunners as they picked up their first silver ware following a multi-million deal to bring in Mesut Ozil in the previous summer. At the beginning of this summer, Arsenal joined hands with Puma which was followed by the signing of Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona.

Everything is in place for a prosperous future at the Emirates Stadium. The club’s self-sustainable financial structure is starting to have a significant impact in the new world of Financial Fair Play. However speaking ahead of Thursday’s Annual General Meeting, chief executive Ivan Gazidis remained cautious as reported by Dailymail,

‘Where we are currently is off the shoulder of the world’s top teams. I think the best teams in the world are in Europe and you think about the great names in world football like Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich – I don’t think we’re at that level yet but that’s where we’re aiming to get to,’ said Arsenal’s chief executive.

‘It’s one thing to say that and it’s another thing to be able to deliver it. It has been incredibly frustrating not being able to be where we want to be these last few years, so winning the FA Cup was a fantastic moment.

‘(But) I don’t come out of that feeling satisfied like we’ve achieved what we need to achieve. The hunger for success is immediate. The moment you get away from that euphoria of the moment, the next question is, “How do we have more of that?”

Wenger is 65 years old now and he signed a 3 year deal with the gunners last year. So, we can expect Wenger to stay with the North London club at-least  till then.