Arsene Wenger: I contemplated leaving Arsenal

Arsene Wenger has revealed he contemplated leaving Arsenal prior to signing a new contract with the club.

The Frenchman, 67, signed a new two-year deal in May after winning the FA Cup.

That ended a turbulent season that had seen intense pressure on Wenger as Arsenal missed out on a Champions League place for the first time in 20 years.

And Wenger acknowledges the Gunners’ poor form did play a part in his thought process during his contract saga towards the end of 2016-17, where he repeatedly refused to reveal his intentions.

“Yes, I hesitated over signing an extension for personal reasons,” Wenger said to Telefoot.

“I have been here for 20 years and you wonder all the time, can you still take the team to the next level? You wonder if you should go on managing the club, also because last season we struggled a lot.”

Wenger was also asked a series of ‘yes or no’ questions where he said he could manage another club and that he had previously been in contact with Paris Saint-Germain.

Arsenal have had a poor start to the new Premier League season, losing two of their first three matches, including a humiliating 4-0 reverse to Liverpool at Anfield.

But Wenger is confident there is enough quality within his squad to make a positive response to the club’s latest adversity.

“It is a very difficult start to the season,” he said. 

“We began by winning at home [4-3 over Leicester City] with a good performance, the second we lost [1-0 to Stoke] where we were quite good, but wasteful, and the third was a catastrophic performance.

“But in spite of that the team has real potential, we have to start again as always in moments of crisis and win our next game.”

Asked if Arsenal could win the Premier League this season, Wenger responded: “Yes.”