Sometimes it is hard to believe what Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis says because of all the promises he talked about in the past, but those couple of years have been different. Ivan always used to discuss how; Arsenal FC is on it's way up to compete with the elite like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, how building the Emirates made the club spend less until they were financially stable and how the FA Cup holders could spend money on the best players.
But this time it is different.
This time around they have kept their best players; the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Laurent Koscielny, Theo Walcott etc. They have also bought world class players in Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez, this time Ivan Gazidis and the board have delivered what they’ve been talking about for a couple of years now.
A club with a self-sufficient model is what all football clubs dream to achieve. A team that does not depend on a sugar daddy to spend is a club with a great future ahead. Arsenal’s position in world football is extremely promising, and the way the board and Ivan Gazidis are moving the club forward is very reassuring.
The one thing Ivan Gazidis said though, which honestly will be the biggest thing to happen to the club after their move from Highbury, was when he was asked about Arsene Wenger and how he will be replaced whenever that time comes. Gazidis said that Arsene placed the club in an excellent position, Arsenal are now a powerhouse of a club because of Wenger and for that the board and the CEO are fully supportive of everything Arsene Wenger sees or decides.
Replacing Wenger when the time comes will probably be even harder than moving to the Emirates Stadium. A man who worked for the club since 1996, working on a certain philosophy and the way he does his business is just top quality, and for that it is very difficult to replace a man of his caliber.
Ivan Gazidis and the Arsenal board should start looking for a long term replacement from now, a person who is hungry, motivated, shares the same or similar philosophy to Wenger and classy like Wenger.
We can talk about a lot of names, but we don’t know if those names want to leave their clubs or come to Arsenal.
What we do know is that Arsene Wenger is the person who made Arsenal the European powerhouse it is today. With a model driven by the CEO and the board, the club is in a very healthy state for a transition whenever time comes for the boss to retire.
Until then, the Emirates faithful hope the whole board is secretly looking for one because it will take them a whole lot of time to find a person similar to one of the best in the world, the one and only Arsene Wenger.