Arsene Wenger confirms Arsenal future will be decided at board meeting following FA Cup final with Chelsea

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Arsene Wenger confirmed that his Arsenal future will be tied up in a board meeting in the days immediately after the FA Cup final on 27 May.

Wenger’s contract expires next month and he still has not signed a new deal, although a two-year extension was first offered long ago. Wenger has refused to give any public indication as to whether he will sign or leave, despite months of internal wrangling.

Arsenal have insisted that the decision will be mutual, and made at the end of the season, and it is not simply a case of Wenger deciding whether he signs a contract or not. At his press conference this morning Wenger confirmed that his future will be finalised in a board meeting the week after next.

“I was asked if there is a board meeting before the cup final, I said no, it is after,” Wenger said. “And of course, I will be there. At the moment I think we should focus on short-term and what’s going on on Sunday and in the cup final.”

Wenger then confirmed that “of course” it is likely there will be an announcement on his future in the days following the board meeting.

Wenger spelled out that the whole of Arsenal’s future, including his own, will be decided in the meeting at the end of this month. “You have certainly to know that there are many aspects of a football club which have to be discussed at a board meeting,” Wenger said. “One of them is of course what is happening with the manager, the future, the players who have to come in, the renewal of contracts. You don’t miss problems in a board meeting.”

Wenger repeatedly insisted that he was not thinking about his future, only Sunday’s game against Everton in which Arsenal will hope to scrape into fourth place. After that they have the FA Cup final and only after that, Wenger said, will he think about next season.

“Look, I think what is the most important for us is to win the football game we play on Sunday,” Wenger said. “After that, what happens to me is less important. I’m here to serve the club and the best way to do that is to win the next game.”