Arsene Wenger is Arsenal’s greatest-ever manager.
The legendary Frenchman spent 22 years as the Gunners’ boss and is the biggest reason why they are such a huge brand today.
Wenger had a massive influence on the careers of several players at Arsenal, and almost all of them still speak highly of him.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is one of them, and he has revealed why his old boss was considered a ‘genius’ by everyone at the club.
Where does Arsene Wenger rank among the Premier League’s greatest managers?
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sheds light on Arsene Wenger behind the scenes at Arsenal
Arsene Wenger revolutionised English football after he joined Arsenal in 1996.
The Frenchman broke Manchester United’s dominance on the pitch, and completely changed the way footballers lived off it.
Wenger will forever be regarded as one of the greatest managers ever, and Oxlade-Chamberlain has admitted that he was ‘lucky’ to have a chance to work with him.
The former Arsenal winger has shared what Wenger was like behind the scenes and also revealed what made everyone think he was a ‘genius’.
He said on the Celtic FC podcast: “I was lucky to have the chance to work with him for so long.
“He was just amazing at that, developing young boys and speaking to you off the pitch about life as well, just in general; some of his philosophies and how he would talk about life away from football and relate that back to football, and you can learn a lot and become a better person from someone like that.
“So, I think everyone has huge respect for him from that side of things, and then also it comes to the football and, yeah, what he’s achieved and how he saw the game and how he could spot potential in certain guys that even as players sometimes you didn’t see it when guys were coming up.
“He would see it before everyone, and then it would come to fruition, and you think: ‘Wow, this guy is a genius!’ So yeah, he was amazing to work with from a footballing point of view, and I was very lucky to work with him for so long.”
Would things have been different for Oxlade-Chamberlain at Arsenal had Arsene Wenger used him in midfield?
Arsene Wenger deserves more credit for what he did at Arsenal
Even though Wenger is regarded as a football great, we just don’t think he gets the credit he deserves.
Everyone speaks highly of his early years at Arsenal, when he won three Premier League titles, including the one that made the Gunners Invincible in 2003/04.
However, Wenger sacrificed his own career in the second half of his spell at Arsenal by managing the transition from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium.
The North Londoners didn’t have much money to spend on transfers at the time and even had to sell their best players every season. Despite that, Wenger kept them in the top four, helped Arsenal pay off their stadium debt and laid the foundations for Mikel Arteta to reap the rewards today.
For that, Wenger deserves much more praise than he gets.
Receive a digest of our best Arsenal content each week direct to your mailbox
