Winning a trophy cures all ills. That seems to be the case at Arsenal where Gunners boss Arsene Wenger is set to sign a new two-year-contract that will keep him at the club until 2019.
After winning the FA Cup against Chelsea last Saturday, the BBC and the Daily Telegraph report Wenger met with club owner Stan Kroenke on Monday before a decision to hand him a new deal was relayed to the board on Tuesday.
“The club are planning to make an announcement on Wednesday afternoon,” a spokesman told the Press Association.
It is a decision that will be fully embraced by Arsenal fans, not even those who are within the Gunners boardroom, where there is plenty of frustration at Wenger’s laissez-faire approach to the transfer market.
The Arsenal board reportedly feel that Wenger lacks conviction in making the decision to complete a deal.
As a result the club have found themselves frantically signing players on the final day of the summer transfer window – a scenario the club want to avoid.
For example, with a deal agreed for Gonzalo Higuain in the summer of 2013, Wenger dropped his interest in the Argentine to pursue Luis Suarez.
They ended up with neither, signing Mesut Ozil in the final minutes of the transfer window.
With the challenges of Europa League football next season for the first time, this is a huge summer for Arsenal, who finished fifth last season, a result that saw them miss out on qualification for the Champions League for the first time since Wenger took charge in 1996.
The first challenge for Wenger will be to get stars Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez to agree to new contracts.
Arsenal have offered them both new contracts, worth at least £275,000 a week, but the whispers continue to grow louder that at least one, if not both or them, will leave this summer.
Replacing Sanchez, who has developed into a world-class striker while at the Emirates would be extremely difficult as well as expensive. Would Wenger be willing to spend £70, £80, £90 million pounds on a world class striker to replace Sanchez. I am not so sure he will.
What has to terrify Arsenal fans is that Wenger does not see an Arsenal side that finished 18 points behind leaders Chelsea. Instead he sees a squad that he close to the Champions, saying after the FA Cup win:
“I’ve said before that this team will win the championship with one or two buys.”
I don’t think even the most optimistic Arsenal fans think that.
What do you think Arsenal fans of the decision to bring Arsene Wenger back for two more years? Was it the right decision?
