Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is reportedly prepared to wait until the fag end of the season before he decides to put pen to paper on a new deal at the Emirates Stadium.
Daily Mail have reported that Arsene Wenger will delay talks on an extension on his Arsenal contract with the club hierarchy until at least April. The Frenchman’s current deal with the Gunners runs until the end of May. However, Wenger doesn’t seem to be in any rush to sign a new contract to remain as the Arsenal manager.
Wenger’s current 3-year deal with the club also saw a lot of deliberations on the Frenchman’s part as he signed the contract at the end of the 2013/14 season. When prodded upon the question of his stretched out contract negotiations, he himself said that he will be able to make a better judgement about his position by then and has no qualms about leaving it this late.
He said, “Yes. I always said that I will judge where I stand in spring and make my decisions then. And the club is free as well. It’s not because I am here a long time that I have any rights. We are both in the same boat.”
Wenger also went on to add that the delays caused by his contract negotiations will neither hamper his side’s progress in different competitions this season, nor will it affect the club’s long-term planning. He continued: “There are plenty of managers who arrived at the end of their contract. It happened to me before.
“I signed sometimes in March, April for longer contracts. So I don’t think it’s a problem. I worked everywhere I was until the last day of my contract with total commitment. That’s why maybe I can go back everywhere I was, because people respect that.”
It is believed that Wenger’s decision on a contract extension also hinges on how his side performs in the remainder of the season. Recent results have seen Arsenal lose the momentum in the Premier League title race after consecutive defeats at the hands of Everton and Manchester City have put them nine points adrift of leaders Chelsea.
Arsene Wenger is by far the longest-serving manager in English football, having managed the North London outfit through twenty years of mixed fortunes, and celebrated the 20-year anniversary with Arsenal in September. The situation around his contract is agonising to say the least, which is why Arsenal fans will be hoping that an announcement is made sooner rather than later.
