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Revealed: The Reason Arsene Wenger Hasn’t Signed His New Deal Yet

By on March 9, 2014

Arsene Wenger’s future is a subject that’s been discussed at length in the media, by bloggers and by fans for several months.

The long-serving manager is out of contract this summer and has been expected to pen a new deal ever since chief exec Ivan Gazidis confirmed back in January that the Frenchman had already agreed to sign an extension. So it was just a matter of ‘when’, and not ‘if’.

We heard rumours that he was delaying signing until new deals had also been agreed with players like Per Mertesacker and Tomas Rosicky, but that opportunity came and went when the duo announced last week that they had signed new contracts.

Then reports emerged after the Bayern and Stoke defeats that suggested Arsene was having second thoughts about staying on at the club as he was starting to think he had perhaps taken the squad as far as he could – although this theory was dismissed pretty quickly.

Now, the Mirror are reporting that the real reason for the delay is that the boss wants guarantees that he’ll still be in full control over new signings before committing his future to the club.

It’s understood that senior figures within the Emirates are keen for Wenger to utilise our new-found wealth by bringing in more big-money signings, but the Frenchman is adamant he wont be pressured into buying and wants to continue to negotiate the transfers without interference from above.

Whether there is any foundation to this report remains to be seen, but it would certainly make a lot of sense. There is obviously something holding up the announcement and we know it isn’t money. Wenger has never had the financial backing that’s now being afforded to him and we’re just starting to look like a team capable of winning trophies again, so it would be a strange decision for him to walk away now. So something is clearly holding him back from putting pen to paper.

Som fans feel the club should be the ones delaying offering him a new deal until the end of the season, but I think we all know that even if we end up trophy-less again and finish fourth, Wenger will still be offered an extension, so it’s better to put all the speculation to bed and get him to sign the new deal asap so we can focus on the run-in without distraction.

Do you think Wenger deserves a new contract yet? 

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