Wenger says target is 'to play in Europe again'

Published on: 25 April 2018

LONDON -- Arsene Wenger insists he'll have more chances to win a European trophy even after leaving Arsenal, and said living without football for the first time in 35 years would make him feel like "a guy who plays Russian roulette every week and suddenly he has no gun anymore."

Wenger, who is stepping down after his 22nd season in charge of the club, gave his strongest hint yet that he intends to stay in top-level club management even as he prepares to turn 69 later this year.

Speaking ahead of Thursday's Europa League semifinal ahead of Atletico Madrid, Wenger downplayed the suggestion that emotions could get to him as he walks out on the Emirates pitch for his final European home game.

"No because I hope it's not my last European Cup game," Wenger said. "I think on the list of guys who have played in Europe, I'm quite high up, if not the highest. So my target is to play in Europe again."

That, of course, would require him taking over another Champions League-calibre club -- possibly as soon as next season. Because while Wenger said he may take "a little bit" of a break from the game, he found it hard to imagine taking a whole year off.

"It's long, a year -- 365 days, you know. I don't know. I leave myself a little bit of freedom to decide what I want to do with my life," he said. "I had no break for 35 years. In our job, you can look around, that doesn't exist.

"So I don't know now how addicted I am. I'm a bit like a guy who plays Russian roulette every week and suddenly he has no gun anymore. So I will see how much I miss that gun."

The closest Wenger ever came to a European trophy was losing the 2006 Champions League final to Barcelona, which he admitted was his "biggest regret" from his two-decade spell at the club.

"It was my biggest regret, yes. Because we played at the time against for example Juventus, who had [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic and [David] Trezeguet up front and [Patrick] Vieira, and Real Madrid who had [Zinedine] Zidane, [David] Beckham, [Luis] Figo, [Cristiano] Ronaldo, with a team when the difference looked bigger on paper than it does today.

Arsene Wenger looks on against West Ham after announcing he will be stepping down at year's end. Joosep Martinson - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images

"So that would have been the greatest achievement," he said. "But you have as well to be realistic, we were in the Champions League final. And if you look at Arsenal and the number of games Arsenal played in Europe in the whole history, you will see that it's not Real Madrid. So you have to be conscious of that as well. The longer history of the club is not that wide that you can say the club has won 10 European Cups in its history."

The hope among Arsenal fans is that Wenger's successor will bring the club back to a level where it's at least competing for their first European Cup. And even though there's a general feeling that Wenger would have preferred to stay in the job a while longer, he insisted that he wants the next manager to be more successful than he has been.

Wenger said: "I wish that all goes well. I told you, you don't give 22 years of your life for something and you go away and you want things to collapse. Not at my age. Maybe when you have a big ego at 40. At my age, you understand that when you go, the world continues. And you wish that it continues better."

Wenger has said he will stay out of the search for his successor, but he agreed with chief executive Ivan Gazidis that the club must not be afraid to make a "bold" hire -- and was open to the idea of hiring a former player to take over.

"I would take it the other way around. The need to make the right decision even if you have to be bold. That's not exactly the same. But that's what I wish personally," Wenger said. "And if it's former people who worked here, it's even better. There are many players who have qualities, some of them are in a job. I don't influence that choice, but I will stand behind the decision."

And Wenger couldn't resist getting in a small dig at journalists when discussing the fact that in the long list of potential candidates being touted by the media shows there is no shortage of managers willing to take the job.

"That shows you as well that the place is a good place," Wenger said. "Green outside, nice trees, good grass. Fantastic, no pollution -- until the press conference starts."

Source: espn.co.uk

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