ARSENAL boss Arsene Wenger has revealed he is dreading the prospect of retirement.
The Gunners manager is in the final year of his current deal and it is not yet known whether he intends to carry on next season.
Wenger, 66, arrived in north London 20 years ago in 1996 and has managed almost twice as many games as the next longest-serving Arsenal manager.
In his 1,120-match spell at Highbury and the Emirates, Wenger has won three Premier League titles and the FA Cup six times.
However, his last title came in 2004 and in recent years dissenting voices have been increasingly heard at the Emirates – a comment that he spends “the club’s money as if it were your own” is not likely to go down well.
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Although it is unclear whether manager and club will reach a new deal, Wenger has certainly hinted about extending his stay.
He told the Guardian: “It’s been my life and, honestly, I’m quite scared of the day.
“The longer I wait, the more difficult it will be and the more difficult it will be to lose the addiction.
“After [Sir Alex Ferguson] retired and we played them over there [at Manchester United] he sent a message to me to come up and have a drink with him.
“I asked: ‘Do you miss it?’ He said: ‘Not at all.’
“I didn’t understand that.
“It’s an emptiness in your life, especially when you’ve lived your whole life waiting for the next game and trying to win it.”
Wenger believes that the club’s move from Highbury to the Emirate sin 2006 was a big part of Arsenal’s failure to challenge for a league title for a number of years.
But with so much money in the game and at the club – Arsenal had £200m in the bank in December – his reluctance to spend continues to be a major sticking point.
“We had to pay back the debt. We knew we had limited money and we had to be in the Champions League to have a chance to pay off the debt.
“That was the most difficult period for me. For a while it was very bad, but today the club are financially safe.
“I personally believe the only way to be a manager is to spend the club’s money as if it were your own because if you don’t do that you’re susceptible to too many mistakes.
“You make big decisions and I believe you have to act like it’s your own money, like you’re the owner of the club and you can identify completely with the club.
“Because if you don’t do that I think you cannot go far.”
Arsenal continue to be linked with Alexandre Lacazette, Riyad Mahrez, Mauro Icardi, Shkodran Mustafi and others – but Wenger does not appear willing to spend the money required.
Wenger believes the Football League will become an increasingly fertile market for Premier League transfers.
Arsenal bought Rob Holding from Bolton Wanderers this summer, and Wenger appears to hint that similar moves could happen.
“What I think will happen is that you will have more and more players coming out of the lower leagues who have had to fight their way through,” Wenger added.
"Compare that with a player who has been educated here, who has had Champions League for 17 years, who has not known anything else. It’s not a dream [for that player], it’s normal for him.
"But if you play for a team in the lower leagues and watch Real Madrid or Barcelona on Wednesday nights you think: ‘I’d love to play in games like that.’
"I’ve said to our scouts to do the lower leagues because the good players are there now.
"Don’t forget we have many foreign players in the Premier League, but good English players have to go down to develop."
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