ARSENE WENGER HAS revealed that he will return to football management when the timing is right.
The former Arsenal manager has been without a managerial role since leaving the Emirates at the end of the 2017-18 campaign.
Speaking to BeIN Sports, the former Gunners manager revealed that he has been asked to return to the dugout, but that now is not the right time to do so.
“I rejected some nice offers because I did not feel ready,” said Wenger.
“Maybe I realised how much I was in my own bubble, alienating myself from the rest of the world when I was managing.
“Putting a bit of distance between myself and our world made me hesitate to jump back into the fire-pit so quickly.
“I did it for 35 years without any interruption,” added the 69-year-old. “So I was able to leave the bubble and open my eyes and that took me time.
“You will see me in a dugout again, when, I don’t know exactly.
Wenger managed the north London club from 1996-2018, and left as the club’s longest-serving and most successful manager in their entire history.
Having managed in his native country at both Nancy and Monaco, Wenger also spent a brief period in charge of J League side Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan, before making the switch to Arsenal.
His well-known policy of youth development and scouting for talent abroad helped bring in the likes of current forwards Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who were both club-record signings when they arrived at the club in 2017 and 2018 respectively.
The Frenchman won his seventh Community Shield in his penultimate season in charge, adding to his seven FA Cups and three Premier League titles, the last of which represents his most successful campaign in which Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ went through the entire league season undefeated.
Wenger announced his decision to leave the club at the end of the 2017-18 season in April of that campaign, with his successful and lengthy tenure ending fittingly in a 1-0 away win at Huddersfield, after guiding the Gunners to a 5-0 victory over Burnley in his final home game as manager.
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