Arsene Wenger outlines conditions for his return to management after admitting to feeling like an ‘intruder’ at Fifa
Arsene Wenger has said he cannot rule out a return to management after admitting that he feels like an “intruder” in his position at Fifa.
After bringing his 22-year tenure as Arsenal coach to an end in 2018, the 70-year-old became Fifa’s Chief of Global Football Development.
But the Frenchman said he misses the environment of a football pitch and the interactions with players.
“Every day I want to train, I’ve been doing this all my life,” Wenger told Europe 1.
“I’m 70 years old, I gave a lot. Should I play Russian roulette a bit, even when it comes to my health? I can’t do things by halves, so I ask myself this question.”
Wenger stressed, however, that he would not just leap at any management job.
“It will be in conditions that I consider optimal,” he said. “Otherwise, I will not do it.”
Wenger added that the office environment that comes with his current role is not as stimulating as a pitch or training ground.
“I smelled the grass every morning, and today I am more in muffled, administrative environments, and in offices,” he said. “So, obviously, I feel a bit of an intruder in there.
“[But] I want to create the most efficient analysis centre in the world at Fifa. I know it is very ambitious, but you will see that at the World Cup in 2022 we will produce match analyses that will be extremely efficient.
“I’m in the process of hiring a lot of people at this level right now, and I think there is still a lot of progress to be made in the way we see football.”
Read more
Arsenal identify new defensive signing as United continue Sancho chase
Arteta: Europa League will give Arsenal ‘better structure financially’
FA Cup final win puts Aubameyang centre of Arsenal rebuild plans
