Wright: Wenger has ‘gone soft’ (but give him new deal)

Daniel Storey

Former Arsenal striker Ian Wright believes that Arsene Wenger deserves a new three-year deal at the club.

Wright believes that Wenger has been let down by his players, thus explaining his reason for keeping faith.

Yet Wright did not let Wenger escape without criticism, accusing Arsenal’s manager of “going soft” in the transfer market.

“I would give him another three years, simply because I think he’s put a lot of faith into a lot of squads who have let him down miserably. So badly,” Wright said on BBC 2’s The Premier League Show.

“I always curse the fact I didn’t have more time with him. I’d have loved to have been around ‘the Invincibles’ but it hurts me to the core to see us not really challenge for the last years.”

“When Thierry left and went on with Barcelona to win the Champions League, that was basically saying to the players ‘you’re not going to win the Champions League here’,” Wright added.

“That made me quite sad when it happened. Then for Robin van Persie to go to Man United and score all the goals like he did, they literally won the league with his goals. I don’t think they would have won it without it.

“I think that somewhere along the line Arsene Wenger got really soft on that.”