Arsenal’s chief executive Ivan Gazidis has spoken of the difficulty the club will have when they eventually have to search for Arsene Wenger’s replacement, after the manager recently celebrated his 18 years with the club.
Wenger’s club has fallen from grace in recent years, with its former dominance of the Premier League (aided by the likes of Thierry Henry) now but a faded memory as they consistently find themselves settling for the runner-up spot in the table. The manager’s luring of German midfielder Mesut Ozil to his squad was considered to be a huge boon for the club, though Ozil has yet to make an impact during his time with the squad.
However, despite there being many complaints from Arsenal fans as to whether or not Wenger’s position should be handed to a new manager, Gazidis has revealed how valuable he believes the Frenchman is to the London club. Speaking to Arsenal’s official website, Gazidis said: “So much of the attention on a football club is around an individual and that’s very understandable at Arsenal because we have a giant who’s managing us.
“Arsene has been a fantastic driver and has put the club in a great, great position.
“The biggest challenge we’re going to face as a club is that, when the transition from Arsene to the next manager of our football club happens – and I don’t know what that’s going to be – that we come through that strongly.”
Arsenal have had a difficult start to the season, earning just 10 points in 7 games and lagging in 8th place, two places behind fierce North London rivals Tottenham. The club’s chances have been scuppered due to a number of injuries, with 10 players currently out of action. New signing Danny Welbeck, who has experienced a big turnover in form following his departure from Manchester United, limped off during England’s victory against Estonia, leading to speculation that he could be the 11th Arsenal man to be forced out of action.
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