Arsene Wenger endured plenty of tough times during his 22-year spell as Arsenal manager – and rebuilt the Gunners many times.
And now the legendary boss has some words of wisdom for the two great rivals of his time in north London: Tottenham and Man United.
Wenger went head-to-head for the Premier League title with Sir Alex Ferguson’s United’s teams in the early 2000s and won 23 out of his 52 North London derbies during his tenure at Arsenal.
When Wenger left the Gunners in 2018, Man United had just finished second in the Premier League table – to Man City – with Tottenham just four points behind them in third.
On Sunday, the fall from grace of the two sides was obvious as they battled for bottom-half-of-the-table bragging rights with Tottenham prevailing 1-0 thanks to James Maddison’s goal.
Wenger, who is FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, appeared quite shocked at the demise of his erstwhile rivals.
Man United’s Diogo Dalot (left) and Joshua Zirkzee come to terms with another defeat
Arsene Wenger believes both Tottenham and Man United need to completely rebuild their team
It has been a tough season for Son Heung-min and Tottenham who sit 12th in the table
‘You will not find many happy fans on either side,’ he told beIN Sports.
‘When you say it’s a very important game, I would say that it’s not a very important game for the table because they are out of everything.
‘It’s important for pride and to find peace with your fans because both teams cost over a billion pounds. Both teams have the same problem: to find good players to rebuild their team.’
Wenger’s figures are largely accurate. The two clubs have spent more than £1.3billion net over the past six years. United have spent, since 2019, a net amount of £810million – the most in the Premier League. Tottenham are third in that table with a spend of £576m with Chelsea sandwiched between them.
But, despite those astronomical numbers, they have only a Carabao Cup and FA Cup between them in that period (both won by Man United).
And, Wenger believes both squads need to be completely ripped up.
‘The whole team has to be rebuilt at Tottenham and at Man United as well – that will not be easy for either side,’ he added.
