Arsène Wenger has given the strongest indication yet that he will banish the uncertainty over his future by signing a new contract to remain at Arsenal beyond this summer. "It will be done soon," said the Frenchman on Friday. "But I want now to focus on the end of the season."
Fearful of seeing Wenger walk away in the summer, the club has long been urging the 64-year-old to conclude the deal that was agreed in principle earlier this year and hoped he would have done so in time for his 1,000th match in charge, which he will mark on Saturday when Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge for a top-of-the-table fixture with Chelsea.
However, Wenger, who previously said he would not put pen to paper until he was sure he would be given the resources needed to win trophies regularly, has so far refrained from completing the formalities. Asked whether he will finally do so at the end of the season, he replied:
"I think so, yes. I want to do well. And the expectation level and the impatience is there. My commitment is full. I do not want to look somewhere else. I want to stay here. There shouldn't be any uncertainty at all. My desire is to stay. It will be done soon but I want now to focus on the end of the season."
Arsenal's former chairman, Peter Hill-Wood, is convinced that Wenger will extend his reign. "I don't see him suddenly deserting and starting again at some other club," Hill-Wood told the Daily Telegraph. "When I have spoken to [chief executive] Ivan Gazidis he is very confident that there isn't a problem. Arsène doesn't like to do these things in the middle of the season."
Wenger stressed that his eagerness to guide Arsenal to victory has not diminished, although he knows his next contract, should he sign it, could be his last. "I am an idealist but not a fool, not crazy. I am at the stage of my career where I am extremely passionate, maybe more than ever, to do well for this club. But I have to accept that the next thousand will be difficult."
Wenger has suggested that his greatest achievement so far has been to stop Arsenal from sliding into obscurity. The last eight years may have been trophyless but, he says, they could have been a lot worse. Failing to qualify for the Champions League for even one season could have triggered a downward spiral.
Reflecting on how precarious Arsenal's top-club status has been since 2005, as the burden of paying for the new Emirates stadium restricted investment in the team, Wenger cited Leeds United as an example of a club that pursued lofty ambitions but plunged into ruin. Arsenal's fortunes could have fallen with similar speed. "On 1 January 2002 Leeds were top of the Premier League and at the end of the season they were not in Europe," said Wenger.
"That was because of the fact that they had to sell big players. What is fantastic and difficult in our job is that it is very fragile. Bad decisions can take you down quickly. What people sometimes don't understand is you can go down, you can drop. Of course I don't think we are in that position but for years you had to be careful."
Wenger had opportunities to leave during Arsenal's period of austerity – he was courted by Bayern Munich, PSG, Real Madrid and even England – but says he felt honour-bound to remain loyal to the club because the stadium development had been part of his long-term vision. But he knew that vision could unravel if he ever missed out on Champions League qualification.
"I was part of the initial project to build the stadium and push the club to do it, so I felt as well that you cannot say A and not B," explained Wenger. "I felt part of my responsibility was to push the club through that difficult period as well as I could. I knew from the start that our financial viability was linked with us being in the Champions League or not. You can imagine how much I did sweat for years in the last three months [of seasons]. It was maybe not the most prolific period on the trophy side but maybe one day I will look back on it and that will be the period I am most proud of."