Arsenal’s long-standing manager, Arsene Wenger, is to remain at the Premier League Club, the organisation’s CEO said on Thursday at a press briefing in Dubai.
Arsenal has endured a difficult season, finishing fourth in the Premier League for the third successive year, and manager Wenger has come under sustained pressure from a minority of fans for the first time in his 13-year tenure at the club.
However CEO, Ivan Gazidis, revealed to the media: “Arsene is staying. We had lunch two day ago and we were both saying how much we were looking forward to next season. We can’t wait for it.”
Wenger, who is under contract until 2011, dismissed the stories himself earlier this week and pledged to remain in London.
But, Wenger was understood to have been upset by criticism over his record during a recent meeting with Arsenal’s shareholders, and initially refused to distance himself from reports of a move to Spanish side Real Madrid should Florentino Pérez win the club’s presidential election later this month.
The coach has won three league titles and four FA Cup trophies in his time at Arsenal, making him the most successful manager in the history of the club in terms of trophies.
He is also the club’s longest-serving manager in terms of matches played.
In 2004 the Emirates Airline inked a deal with the club to ensure it would get shirt sponsorship rights and have the club’s brand new ground named after it until at least 2021.
The agreement, worth more than $160m, means Arsenal’s state-of-the-art 60,000-seat arena will be known as the Emirates Stadium for its first 15 years.
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