Wenger said a lot of things about what could have happened but the “we tried” line is well worn.
Mbappe was just one world class player in a list of many that “didn’t meet with our valuation.”
I hope he does get the job at PSG, just to see if he will splash the cash when given the opportunity.
Either way, I’d be genuinely disappointed in him if he took any role at this kind of club after such a moral crusade against financial doping. Whatever the ties in the past, they’re now the leaders in circumventing FFP and inflating the market.
Rumours of similar roles opening up at Roma and Atletico, I’d love to see him take on a job like that if he doesn’t fancy coaching.
To replace Monchi? Big Weng has done it again 
Quite honestly I would prefer that too and not want to see him anywhere related to any money laundering clubs.
Wenger was always adamantly opposed to working under a director of football wasn’t he? So it would be quite ironic to see him assume such a role at football’s joint biggest example of financial doping, something which he also adamantly opposed.
Wenger as director of sport at P.S.G. would be funny. He would only buy bargains
Mbappe’s family were complimentary about Wenger after meeting him. Pity we didn’t beat Monaco to him the season before.
Valuation comes from the board. Wenger agreed to work within certain budgets and never complained, that’s documented. Who was it on the board the complimented him for not complaining about the transfer budget?
Which is why he might not fancy it but on the other hand he might think ‘if you can’t beat them join them’. It’s not like he’s currently employed.
Wouldn’t be too surprised to see Wenger back at Monaco
This is a common finding among players and their families tbh. Even in signing Ramsey, rumour has it Wenger took him on a plane and they went to watch a Euro 2008 game together and he never looked back. Our rivals in his signature? Ferguson sent his best man (Neville) to have a chat with Ramsey
It’s clear that relations between the club and Wenger became fraught. He didn’t want to leave, they (Gazidis?) wanted him out. It’s a shame, therefore, that he didn’t remain in some sort of ambassadorial role at the club. He knows it inside out. I used to think George Graham was an Arsenal statto but Wenger would always be better to have inside the tent spitting out.
Wenger DoF an mourinho manager could make a interesting Netflix show
I remember talking to Ray Parlour’s brother about him growing up as a West Ham supporter and playing for a different team, and he said that as a club, Arsenal treated him and his family so well that they considered themselves more Arsenal supporters than West Ham.
I’ve also read about players like Cesc, who came to us as a boy, and the way we looked after them was more like a family than a football club and that’s why you rarely hear an ex player criticise Wenger or the club.
Apparently, given that he spent 35m on Mustafi
Some people genuinely work better with external constraints that force them to bring thier best.
Fight or die mentality that Wenger lost when he had funds and immunity from the Kroenke.
I like to believe that the reason Wenger hasn’t gotten a new job is that he is that he is waiting for Mourinho to become the manager of some team and then he would apply to be the DoF of that team.
Was that even a Wenger signing or was it a StatDNA signing? Which was Gazidis baby.
Yeah it may have been Gazidis, that’s the rumour. I’m not quite so sure that we would’ve brought someone in if Wenger hadn’t given the greenlight still.
The thing is, even if it wasn’t Wenger, we were forced into a corner and had to make late moves in the window because we had once again sleepwalked through that summer and not done all the necessary business. This is also why we had to waste 20m on Lucas Perez who he didn’t even play.
So even if it was Gazidis, that was likely a reasonse to Wengers inaction.
It was Dick Law and the board’s responsibility to get deals over the line though, not Wenger. Wenger wanted Mbappe and Lacazette that summer. Wenger enquired about Martial. A well organised board would say ‘listen Arsene, tell us your preferred players and we’ll get the deals over the line’.
It’s sad that Wenger will always be judged on the final 13 seasons when most of the time he was on a shoestring budget. Imagine if Wenger like SAF could go out and buy whichever player he felt like whenever he felt like.
I agree in part but Mbappe was going to cost something like 130m, so that was never workable for us. I’d rather sign 2-3 very good players for that amount.
On Wenger operating with a limited budget, I agree to a point. From 2006 to about 2013 he often worked miracles I would say, but once we entered the period where our commercial deals improved and we could sign players like Ozil and Alexis, I don’t think he made use of his resources in the best way possible.
This period also coincided with an influx of more modern and tactically astute coaches in the league, particularly at our rivals. I don’t think the issue at this point was solely that he couldn’t spend, because he could and he was also a step behind as a coach then.
It’s well established Wenger had direct control and oversight of all first team transfer and contract negotiations.
The dithering Wenger line didn’t appear from nowhere