Four Four Two - UK (2020-11)

34 November 2020 FourFourTwo

no support from anyone – we had to buy the

land for £120m, build the new stadium and

then pay it back.

“It was extremely difficult but I accepted

the challenge, and I’m proud to have served

the club with total commitment and integrity.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t make mistakes,

but it was completely to help the club come

through that period. You see now that Spurs

are going through that period as well – they

have fewer resources.”

Would he have won more league titles at

Arsenal if the Gunners hadn’t left Highbury?

“I don’t know,” he admits. “Chelsea came in

and spent a lot of money, and with 38,000

fans we could not have competed with them

financially. Manchester City came in, United

had more financial power, you had Liverpool

who had financial power, you had Tottenham

• and at the time I joined Arsenal, Newcastle

were a strong team. So I’m not sure. I believe

that phase could have been better for us if we

had met another Thierry Henry – like Cristiano

Ronaldo, if he’d signed for us.”

Over the years, the Gunners missed out on

a variety of big names they’d shown interest

in – among them Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Luis

Suarez, Gerard Pique, Vincent Kompany, Yaya

Toure, Raphael Varane, Jadon Sancho and

even Lionel Messi. Some of them even began

rhyming with each other, like Didier Drogba

and Paul Pogba.

But it’s the failure to seal a deal for Ronaldo

that Wenger reveals he rues the most, given

how close he came. The Portugal star was 17

when he headed to London for contract talks

back in January 2003.

“When I had Thierry, I could have signed

Ronaldo – can you imagine what they could

have done together?” he says. “That makes

you sweat a little bit, and I was very close to

doing it. I thought it was all done. Football is

down to top-class players; decisive players

who make you win. The higher the level, the

more the individual becomes key. Contrary

to what people think, at the top level it’s the

individual player who makes the difference.

“It was that close,” he adds, holding his

index finger and thumb within a millimetre

of each other, to illustrate just how narrowly

he missed out on Ronaldo. “But I would say

that every club could tell you stories like that.”

Arsenal could not agree a transfer fee with

Sporting, and Manchester United swooped.

Ronaldo helped to deliver them three more

Premier League titles.

Given the difficulties Wenger faced, some

bosses might have walked away. He certainly

had opportunities. Asked how many offers he

received during his time at Arsenal, he puffs

out his cheeks and pauses to think. “At least

10,” he says. “Maybe 12 or 15.” Which was

the most tempting? “For me, it was especially

difficult to turn down Real Madrid because it

was a huge club,” he says. “I’m not sure that

coaches who worked with limited resources

like I did would turn down Madrid.”

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• Correct to October 16
  their history. Then in the last years, we were
  always playing Barcelona or Bayern and I felt
  the draw was a bit too predictable.
  “But you know, it remains a regret – a big
  regret, especially when we were so close. We
  were 30 minutes away. My biggest regret is
  that we had to play with 10 men. You go into
  the final, and you haven’t conceded a goal
  against Real Madrid with Zidane, Beckham
  and Ronaldo, or Juventus with Ibrahimovic
  and Trezeguet. Then suddenly, after just 10
  minutes, you have to play with one man less.
  It was hard to swallow and it still is today –
  but it’s part of life.”
  For Barça, that Champions League final
  was the start of a great era. For the Gunners,
  it was effectively the end of one. From that
  moment onwards, life became more difficult
  for Wenger at Arsenal. The club left Highbury
  for the Emirates Stadium that summer, and
  were constantly fighting a financial battle to
  fund the move. Meanwhile, crosstown rivals
  Chelsea were spending big money – at the
  time, David Dein said that Blues chief Roman
  Abramovich “has parked his Russian tanks on
  our lawn, and is firing £50 notes at us”.
  In his autobiography, Wenger explains that
  the banks sought a guarantee that Arsenal
  would spend only 50 per cent of their budget
  on salaries. New signings had to be funded
  by player sales. “It was very difficult,” he tells
  FFT, “because the first generation of players
  played until the end of their careers – Steve
  Bould, Lee Dixon and Nigel Winterburn. The
  second generation, I sold at the age of 30 or

32. The third generation, I sold at 21, 22, 23
    and 24. That means that you sell them for
    other clubs to be competitive against you.”
    Arsenal’s move to the Emirates came not
    long after Leeds’ descent into financial ruin.
    The Frenchman was never going to risk the
    long-term health of the club, though. “No,
    because what’s important is that the club is
    in a position today where it can invest, and
    it’s in a healthy situation,” he says. “We had

Above Heartbreak

in Paris: “I truly miss

not having won the

Champions League”