We unveiled Arsène Wenger's statue outside Emirates Stadium on Friday, commemorating Arsène’s truly remarkable contribution to our football club.
During his time as our manager, Arsène won three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups, also leading us to a historic unbeaten league season in 2003/04.
Arsène's statue was created by award-winning sculptor Jim Guy, working with product management director Ian Landor at MDM. Production time was approximately one year and the statue was produced with the Foundry team of Simon Allan and Adam Paddon from Sculpture Castings. Art Direction was from 20.20 Ltd.
The statue is made of bronze, weighing approximately half a ton, and is 3.5 metres high, and celebrates Arsène lifting the Premier League trophy - which he won in 1998, 2002 and 2004.
You can see some exclusive footage of it being created below:
Statues at Emirates Stadium
There are now six statues of Arsenal legends adorning Emirates Stadium - with Arsène joining the following:
Tony Adams
The statue of Tony Adams, which is located outside the North Bank at Emirates Stadium, commemorates an Arsenal legend who enjoyed a 19-year career at his only club. Tony joined us as a trainee in April 1983 and quickly progressed through the ranks to become our captain in 1988 at the age of just 22.
During his Arsenal career, Adams made a total of 669 appearances, placing him second in our all-time appearance records after David O’Leary. He is the most successful captain in the club’s history, leading us to ten major honours.
This statue recreates the iconic pose adopted by Tony after scoring the final goal in a 4-0 win against Everton on May 3, 1998 to clinch the league title.
The nearest turnstile to the Adams statue at Emirates Stadium is E.
Dennis Bergkamp
Dennis' statue, which is located outside the Clock End, to the south of Emirates Stadium, commemorates a club legend who enjoyed an 11-year career in north London.
A large crowd witnessed the unveiling of the statue by director Ken Friar, which depicts Dennis in action for us at Newcastle United in a Premier League match on February 9, 2003.
The former Holland international joined us from Inter Milan in June 1995 and went on to make a total of 423 appearances, scoring 120 goals. During this time he treated supporters to some of the most exhilarating and skilful play seen by any Arsenal player ever.
He played an integral part in us winning seven major honours, including the Invincibles’ unbeaten Premier League season of 2003/04.
Herbert Chapman
The first statue to be unveiled was that of Herbert Chapman, who was our manager between 1925 and 1934. Herbert's team won the league three times in four years, and his development of advanced diets, fitness and tactical approaches was revolutionary.
The direct, attacking style of players like Alex James, Cliff Bastin and David Jack, who featured in Herbert's ground-breaking WM formation brought great success to the club before his untimely death in January 1934 at the age of just 55. The statue of Herbert is located underneath the clock close to the Danny Fiszman Bridge and sees him looking towards the stadium as a symbol of our progressiveness since he revolutionised the club.
The nearest turnstiles to the Herbert statue at Emirates Stadium are L & K.
Ken Friar
At a short ceremony attended by Mr Friar himself, family, friends and club staff, a statue was unveiled at the end of the bridge, opposite the Arsenal Museum at the north end of the stadium.
The statue depicts Mr Friar playing football as a youngster in 1945 in front of the old Highbury Stadium. Behind the statue is a display telling the famous story that saw Mr Friar miskick a ball underneath a parked car that transpired to be that of our then manager, George Allison.
So impressed was Allison with young Mr Friar’s enthusiasm that he was told to report to his office the next day, whereupon he was offered a job as a messenger at the stadium on matchdays.
From that day on, Mr Friar became a loyal servant to the club - he has been instrumental in our success during this time.
Thierry Henry
Thierry's statue depicts his famous celebration after scoring against Tottenham Hotspur at Highbury in November 2002.
The statue of Henry is located in the south-east corner of Emirates Stadium, by the Spirit of Highbury mural. Thierry is our all-time leading goalscorer, with 228. During his eight years at the club between 1999 and 2007 he won two Premier Leagues, two FA Cups, the Premier League ‘Golden Boot’ on four occasions and the PFA Player of the Year twice.
Fittingly, on May 7, 2006, he scored the last-ever goal at Highbury. Thierry returned to us on a short-term deal in 2012, and marked his comeback by scoring the winning goal within 10 minutes of coming on as a substitute in an FA Cup third-round win over Leeds United.
The nearest turnstiles to Thierry's statue at Emirates Stadium are P & N.
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