Arsène Wenger has insisted he “did not give any indication” about his Arsenal future to Ian Wright and, although the manager did admit to having had a private dinner with his former player and two or three others, he said he is not ready to walk away at the end of the season after over 20 years in charge.
Wright said on BBC Radio 5 Live on Friday night that he had been with Wenger the previous evening and he had got the “impression” he was ready to end his long association with Arsenal. Wenger’s contract expires in the summer and it is unclear whether he will sign a new one or depart.
Arsenal were quick to discredit Wright’s comments. He had been in the audience for a Q&A session Wenger had held with a group of Arsenal’s corporate season-ticket holders and the club indicated the manager had not spent any time on his own with Wright.
Wright also took to Twitter on Friday night, after his radio appearance, in what looked like an attempt to backtrack. “We were in a room full of people,” Wright said. “He [Wenger] was talking to the room.”
However after Arsenal’s 2-0 home win over Hull City, which owed much to a handball goal by Alexis Sánchez, Wenger did say he had eaten with Wright before the Q&A. “We had a little dinner before but we were not the two of us,” the manager was eager to point out. “We were four, five.”
The reality is Wenger remains undecided about what he will do at the end of the season, and his mood has been liable to swing. He was gloomy after consecutive defeats against Watford and Chelsea but was in much better humour after the win over Hull.
“I could be tired because I get up early in the morning and I finish late at night so sometimes I am tired, yes, but I didn’t give any indication [to Wright] about my future,” Wenger said. “Did he misinterpret me? Yes. I appreciate very much you want me to rest [in retirement] but I am not ready for that.”
Wright had said: “We were talking and obviously he didn’t say to me: ‘I’m leaving at the end of the season.’ But you get a feeling. I just get the impression in him and looking at him that that’s it. He actually mentioned while we were talking that he’s coming to the end. I’ve never heard him say that.”
Hull were devastated about the failure of Mark Clattenburg to spot Sánchez’s handball for the opening goal on 34 minutes and the full-back Andrew Robertson said the referee had apologised to the Hull players before the start of the second half.
Wenger and the subject of his future was the hot topic and Alan Smith, another of his former Arsenal players, said “it probably is time for change”. Smith added: “We have reached the end of a natural cycle. There are an increasing number of fans who aren’t happy and I don’t think Wenger is happy. It is bound to wear you down.
“Now it is time the club looked towards a different manager. The same voice for 20 years is an awfully long time. It has got stale. The offer of that two-year contract is on the table [for Wenger]. I wouldn’t be surprised if he decided to go.”