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Wenger promises title challenge
The Frenchman, who begins his 15th season at Arsenal this weekend, maintains that his young team is a viable Premier League contender
As he enters his 14th season in charge of Arsenal, manager Arsene Wenger probably finds himself in the most precarious situation he has ever been in. Fourth again last season, it has been four years since the north Londoners won a trophy and the days of the 2003-04 Invincibles seem a long time away.
While the long-standing appreciation at the club of the Frenchman's achievements is probably enough to ensure that he will never be sacked from his position, and with Rafa Benitez's need for a Premier League crown making him the most under-pressure of the Big Four bosses, Wenger himself knows that he needs to wring something out of the season.
After a summer that has been largely remarkable for the actual or anticipated outflow of players from the club - Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure to Manchester City, Barcelona's ongoing courtship of Cesc Fabregas - the 59-year-old is talking up the latest crop of youngsters to emerge from the Emirates production line.
"The team we have now gets there, and by that I mean it wins the championship. At 22 or 23 I think a team is mature enough to deliver and it is a massively important year for our club. I am conscious of that," he tells the Times today. Indeed explaining why he turned down a move to Real Madrid over summer, he returns to the callow talent at the club, such as the 17-year-old English star Jack Wilshere (above), who has impressed in pre-season training.
"I have a project here that I started four years ago and I wanted to reach the end of it. I could not leave this team at this stage of their development," he says. Wenger then lays down a bold challenge to the rest of the Premier League that could yet return to haunt him: "To talk of winning the league is an audacious statement but I built this team and I want to deliver."
Elsewhere in the slightly rarified interview with Matthew Syed – "Is football art? Wenger's eyes flash as he warms to the theme - 'I believe that anything in life, if it is really well done, becomes art'" - Wenger waxes lyrical about Barcelona's "lovely football", pays homage to the "passion" of Sir Bobby Robson and honestly reveals why he enjoys a more "respectful relationship" with Alex Ferguson - "Maybe this is because we are no longer challenging them for major titles". ·
