News

Wenger on Alexis' future and Sir Alex

Alexis' future at the club has been a hot topic at press conferences for much of the season - and Wednesday's briefing at London Colney was no different.

Arsene Wenger was asked about the Chilean's contract situation, and also discussed Sir Alex Ferguson’s complimentary remarks and more.

This is what he had to say:

on Alexis being linked to Man City and if he's braced for losing players…
No, no. We have nobody at the end of their contract so that will be completely our decision. Therefore, I just believe that we, the club, have a big job to do during the summer because you want to keep players like Alexis and end all the speculation that could happen.

on if Alexis will start and what he meant by saying he'd see his contract out…
I just explained to you what a professional person is. If you have surgery tomorrow with a surgeon who is having his last day of work, you still want him to do good work with you and not expect him to do half a job only because it’s his last day. That’s what it means to be professional, to perform as long as you have a contract.

on if this simile refers to his last day or his squad's last day…
I just think I have ended contracts before and I always behaved exactly the same.

on Alexis…
Alexis is not at the end of his contract. I would just like to remind you that the end of his contract is 2018. So that’s a completely different situation.

on Sir Alex being complimentary about him…
It’s welcome, because he knows the difficulty of the job. He is maybe the greatest manager that has worked in England. We had a few big rivalries but time has ended all that and I think we have a big respect. I have a big respect for him and I think he as well, respects what I have done in the game.

on whether he can see himself matching Sir Alex's record of 26 years at one club…
No! No, I don’t think I’ll match him on that front. But he did extremely well and what he did in 26 years is absolutely exceptional because you look at what’s happening in the game, usually the average life expectancy of a manager these days in 18 months. So our total is quite unusual.

on whether he sees himself doing 22 or 23 years with Arsenal…
You got me well there… I cannot answer that question at the moment.

on if there's any chance this could be his last match…
It will not be my last match anyway, because I will stay, no matter what happens, in football.

on if it's his last game as Arsenal manager…
I don’t know.

on whether lifting the FA Cup at Wembley is a 'beautiful farewell' and if he has thought the same…
No. What I want is to win the next game. I love to win and I want to do well for my club. I want to win the cup for my club and that’s all I care about. It’s not about me, it’s about us winning the trophy and giving absolutely everything to achieve it.

on if result of cup final will have any bearing on his future…
No.

on why not…
Why? I return the question to you. Why?

on if winning that would give him a platform…
I don’t care about me, I care about us winning the game on Saturday. When you go into a game, in a cup final you can accept the challenge. You just want to win it. The last worry I have is my person in a game like that.

on whether the club is in a position financially to compete at the top level of English and European football…
It’s not only about money, football. It’s important, but it’s not only about money. We are in a much better position. I guided this club for years with very limited resources where we had to sell all our best players, always. So today the club is in a much stronger position. Some clubs are in a stronger position than us financially, yes. But I believe we are in a strong enough position and we have a strong enough basic squad to compete at the top level.

on if it's a good thing for a billionaire to come in and want to invest…
Look, at the moment you can understand that three days before the cup final, I’m not too much in that mood. What I focus on is the cup final.

 

More quizzes to come over the summer...

See Full List

Fixtures & Results

Premier League
Ticket Info