Arsene Wenger said on Friday that he will make a decision on his Arsenal future “in March or April” as he vowed to remain in football management come what may next season.
The Frenchman is out of contract with Arsenal at the end of the current campaign and questions over whether he will stay intensified after the humiliating 5-1 defeat by Bayern Munich in the Uefa Champions League on Wednesday.
“No matter what happens I will manage for another season,” said Wenger, who has been Arsenal’s manager for more than 20 years.
“Whether it’s here or somewhere else, that is for sure. If I said March or April it is because I didn’t know. I do not want to come back on that. We have other priorities at the moment.
“I hate defeat and it’s hard to take, but I have the strength and experience to come back from that.”
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What made the Bayern defeat all the more bitter for Arsenal’s supporters was that it meant, barring an extraordinary second leg, Arsenal will be knocked out in the last 16 of the Champions League for the seventh year in a row.
Meanwhile Arsenal have not won the Premier League since 2004 and could not mount a sustained challenge even when Leicester City took the title last season.
That domestic title drought looks set to continue, with Arsenal currently 10 points adrift of Premier League leaders Chelsea.
But Wenger warned Arsenal fans, many of whom have been heavily critical of him in recent times, that the club’s form will not improve spectacularly just as a result of him leaving the Emirates Stadium.
“We have to focus on the real problems and they are the way we play football, not my future,” he said. “It is always important not to look for wrong excuses in life.
“Even if I go, Arsenal will not win every single game in the future. It is not like before I arrived Arsenal had won the European Cup five times.
“I think what is important is that the club makes the right decision for the future. I care about this club and its future and it is very important the club is in safe hands.”
Arsenal travel to non-league Sutton United on Monday night for an FA Cup fifth round tie.
* Agence France-Presse
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