Wenger set to sign fresh deal
AFP, London
Arsene Wenger is about to sign a new contract which will keep him at Arsenal till 2008 which would extend his Highbury stay to nearly 12 years. Wenger, who this week marked the eighth anniversary of his first match as Arsenal boss -- a 2-0 win at Blackburn -- has since won two domestic doubles and gone an entire league season unbeaten. "It's not signed yet but it will be signed. It will take me until the end of this season and then three more seasons," he revealed. However he admitted: "I didn't think it would last eight years, never. In football, when you win a game, you only have the right to do the next one. "How can you plan for eight years in football? It's like 50 years in normal life. I couldn't have made it to eight years at Arsenal without winning anything but I think I could've done more. You always remember the games you lost -- FA Cup finals and European finals." Then again, when he first arrived in north London in October 1996, he was greeted by scepticism, false slurs over his personal life and headlines of 'Arsene Who?.' No wonder, therefore, that he believes the likes of Jose Mourinho, Jacques Santini and Rafael Benitez now have a much easier task in settling into English football. "It was much more hostile and hotter for me when I came to England than it has been for them," he said. "I was completely unknown in England and I got some stories in my private life. They were not true but it was not easy for me to deal with that. "We also had no previous foreign managers who had been successful. There was a lot of scepticism. But in the past eight years, England has changed a lot. It is much more open to international life than when I arrived." Wenger has, indeed, unearthed the likes of Nicolas Anelka, Cesc Fabregas and Kolo Toure, while reviving the careers of Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira. He has also witnessed a change in himself over the past eight years, falling in love with English football. "Look at the photos of me eight years ago and you will see a big change," he admitted. "I will always spend part of my life in England, just for football reasons. "I've been infected a bit by the English football virus. I would miss that anywhere that I went."
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