Merci Arsene

On May 6, 2018 Arsene Wenger managed his last game at the Emirates stadium for Arsenal FC , a club that he has managed for 22 years. In Wengers first 10 years in charge, he left behind a legacy in Arsenal winning the league 3 times and managing the invincible side that went 49 games undefeated in the league. Everything was going well for Wenger until Arsenal moved into the Emirates Stadium.  Switching home stadiums from Highbury to the Emirates stadium was risk with financial consequences, that led to Wengers departure.

Highbury was the home stadium of Arsenal from 1913-2006. The stadium was small compared to other big European stadiums and in order to help have a better fan atmosphere, moving to a bigger and newer stadium seemed to be the right move. Arsenal owners also believed that in this new stadium, the club would now be able to compete with other European heavyweights such as Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.  Instead the opposite occurred, fans to this day still don’t feel at home in the Emirates Stadium as they did in Highbury, and Arsenal haven’t qualified to play in the Champions League (most elite European club competition) since 2016. The last time Arsenal played in the Champions League, they were humiliated 10-2 on aggregate by Bayern Munich.

Before leaving Highbury, Arsenal had the funds to be able to sign world class players such as Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry. After switching to the Emirates stadium, Arsenal were to pay off the  £390 million stadium. In order to pay off the stadium Arsenal owners found a solution to the payment was by selling their players. After Wenger having his players sold , he wanted replacements but the club ordered to only sign young and inexpensive players. Wenger then went and signed young players such as Robin Van Persie, Samir Nasri, and Cesc Fabregas. Wenger would turn these young players into world class players, continuing to keep Arsenal competing in the highest competition in football.

Around 2008, teams such as Chelsea, Paris Saint Germain, and Manchester City were bought by new billionaire owners spending a ridiculous amount of money on players. With this occurring,  players were starting to be more attracted into higher wages instead of playing for clubs with history and values. This caused more pressure in Wengers job with not being able to attract players financially, and losing players due to this.  Wenger began to lose players to Manchester City for money, such as Samir Nasri and Bacary Sagna.  During this time Real Madrid were offering Wenger a job to become their new manager. Even though a club of such high quality was pursuing him, Wenger was loyal and stayed to help Arsenal through this new transition. Even through the difficulty of losing his best players, he continued his job for his love of the club.

As time past on, Wenger continued his strategy of signing young promising players, but not every player was a success.  If the player was performing, they’d eventually leave Arsenal . Even through losing his best players and financial issues, Wenger finished in the top 4 of the Premier League for 20 years reassuring Arsenal to have Champions League football. In 2012, Robin Van Persie left Arsenal to join Manchester United. This was very crucial to Wengers downfall as Van Persie went to become Uniteds top goal scorer that season, helping them win the league. With players such as Nasri, Sagna, and Fabregas leaving Arsenal for other teams to win silverware, Van Persie had the biggest impact as Arsenal sold another one of their top players to direct rivals. It wasn’t until Wengers final season that he signed a Alexandre Lacazette, a top striker to replace Van Persie. Throughout this, Arsenal began losing by wide margins to rivals. 6-3 Manchester City on 2013, 6-0 to Chelsea in 2014, 4-0 to Southampton in 2015, and 4-0 to Liverpool in 2017.  His biggest defeat was losing 10-2 on aggregate against Bayern Munich in 2017 in the round of 16 in the Champions League.  That same season Arsenal finished 5th placed and Wenger failed to qualify for the Champions League for the first time in his career. The next season ended up being his last one in charge, where he finished in sixth place.

Although Arsene Wenger didn’t have the best ending to his Arsenal managerial career, he had a massive impact to the club. His first 10 years he left a great legacy and although he didn’t win the league since the invincible season of the 2003/2004 season, he still kept Arsenal competing in the premier league and in the the champions league for 20 years, making the club more popular. Even though he may have ruined his legacy, he risked it to help Arsenal go through the financial crises they went through for their new stadium.