Wenger to extend Arsenal contract: The case for and against

Wenger will stay at Arsenal to try and fix his mess

21 March

Arsene Wenger will attempt a summer rebuild at Arsenal as he prepares to sign a new two-year deal at the Emirates, defying the wishes of many supporters.

Although the Gunners are in crisis - they are almost certain to finish behind Spurs for the first time since 1995 and could miss out on European football altogether if they are overtaken by Everton – the manager believes he can resurrect his team for the next campaign, even if he loses star players including Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil this summer.

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"Wenger is ready to reinvent himself in order to rebuild Arsenal and his own reputation, and bring back success to the Emirates," says John Cross of the Daily Mirror.

"Make no mistake. Wenger has made his decision clear that he wants to stay and, even at 67 and after years of stubbornness, he believes he can rediscover his glory years... He commands the respect in the boardroom and, most tellingly, with majority shareholder Stan Kroenke.

"If there is a major rebuilding job to be done then they would rather trust it to the man they know - even if they know that will not be a universally popular decision."

There will be big changes "behind the scenes", however, adds Cross, saying Arsenal "want a new Academy director and in the longer term a director of football".

Wenger will also have to rebuild his playing squad. "Plans are being made with the Frenchman for major on-field changes this summer," says Jeremy Wilson of the Daily Telegraph.

Ozil and Sanchez will not be allowed to run down their contracts and will be sold to fund new purchases. The futures of many other players, including Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Jack Wilshere, are also in doubt.

Replacements including Ross Barkley of Everton are being lined up.

So could Wenger be staying just to oversee the repair work? "There is no realistic prospect of Arsenal winning the league next season," says Jonathan Wilson of The Guardian. "Major surgery is necessary, whether it is Wenger in charge or somebody else – and it may even be that it is a sense he cannot hand over the club when they are in such a mess that has persuaded him to stay on."

It is a mess of Arsenal's own making, he adds: "By delaying an awkward decision so long, they have allowed the club to become less attractive to potential successors than it ought to be."

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Wenger to stay as chaos threatens to engulf Arsenal

20 March

Manager expected to sign new deal despite results, concerns over star players and uncertainty behind the scenes.

Arsenal's limp defeat to West Brom on Saturday was their fourth league loss in five games and their seventh in their past nine matches, but despite this, manager Arsene Wenger has reportedly made up his mind to stay at the Emirates next season.

The news will incense many fans, who are calling for the beleaguered boss's head as the club is set to miss out on Champions League qualification and finish below bitter rivals Spurs for the first time in Wenger's 21-year reign.

"A growing proportion of Arsenal fans are demanding change when Wenger's contract expires this summer, and the club are acutely aware that it will not be a universally popular decision [if he stays]," says John Cross of the Daily Mirror.

"The club say that any decision would have to be a 'mutual' one and is not just down to Wenger. The futures of star players Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez could have a huge impact on that outcome."

Both players are rumoured to be on the way out this summer and the close season could see "a major shake-up behind the scenes, with the long-term future of transfer fixer Dick Law uncertain and the search underway for a new Academy director", adds Cross.

However, there appears to be nothing to stop Wenger from signing the new deal that has been on the table for months.

"There is no sense that Arsenal have withdrawn the two-year contract proposal that was drawn up – and an announcement now appears more a question of timing than intent – but the situation could conceivably still change if the side's alarming slide continues," says Jeremy Wilson of the Daily Telegraph.

"Wenger said that he would communicate a decision on his future 'very soon' but no announcement is planned in the current two-week international break and his focus is to arrest an unprecedented sequence during his tenure of four defeats in five Premier League games."

He has also appeared to move the goalposts by stating that Champions League qualification was no longer key to his future, reports Alyson Rudd of The Times.

"Wenger took staff at the club by surprise with his comments on Saturday, when he said he would reveal his decision very soon," she says.

"Those close to him still do not know for sure what his plans are, although it has always appeared the most likely outcome would be that the 67-year-old would remain at the club."

Rudd also claims Arsenal "have not held talks with any club or manager about replacing Wenger".

Arsenal chairman says decision on Wenger will be 'mutual'

9 March

Arsenal have broken their silence over the future of the club's manager Arsene Wenger amid growing unrest among fans following the 10-2 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

Gunners chairman Sir Chips Keswick has taken what The Sun calls the "unprecedented step" of issuing a statement insisting that the decision over Wenger's future will be a "mutual" one.

Perhaps tellingly there was no vote of confidence in the Frenchman, who has managed Arsenal for more than 20 years, but has become a hugely divisive character among fans. The Independent calls the statement "ambiguous" and notes that "Keswick failed to back his manager". He made it clear that Wenger would not make the decision on his future alone.

The statement said: "We respect that fans are entitled to their different individual opinions but we will always run this great football club with its best long-term interests at heart. Arsene has a contract until the end of the season. Any decisions will be made by us mutually and communicated at the right time in the right way."

The statement is significant says the Sun. "Until now there had been no communication from the boardroom at the Emirates, with Wenger seemingly the only man making the decision over his future.

"That void has allowed a growing movement among Arsenal supporters to mobilise calling for Wenger to quit at the end of the season... So Keswick's intervention is aimed at quashing the growing anxiety among the club's fans and is an attempt to tell them the board are in control of events at the Emirates."

At a press conference earlier in the day Wenger gave out more apparently contradictory messages about his future. The 67-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and has yet to decide whether to sign a new one.

He said that the attitude of the fans would "not be the most important" factor in his decision. But he said he would "consider" their opinions and admitted: "At certain times you have to accept different opinions."