Arsene Wenger would have taken advisory role at Arsenal and feels a ‘deficit of knowledge’ harms top teams

The Frenchman has not held a manager’s job since leaving the Gunners in 2018

Arsene Wenger now works with FIFA (AFP via Getty Images)

Arsene Wenger says he would have been open to an advisory role at former club Arsenal after stepping down as manager.

The legendary boss departed the club just over two years ago and instead of returning to the dugout has taken a role within FIFA, as head of Global Football Development.

But Wenger feels there is a knowledge gap at some top clubs which leads to the decision-makers not always taking the best path for the club, and highlighted Bayern Munich’s model of continuity by employing former players to board level as an example of how clubs can be better-run.

Answering a question from Jose Mourinho on whether he would have taken up a board-level role himself, Mourinho confirmed that he would have, as a way to help the Gunners avoid that pitfall.

“I would have considered being on the board at Arsenal as an adviser. I believe that honestly there is a deficit of knowledge in the big clubs of top, top-level competition and games of top-level sport,” Wenger told the Guardian.

"And I believe we have seen recently that there are many ways to be successful in football.

"For example, there’s the Bayern [Munich] way, where the whole success and continuity relies on people who know the values of the club, and they transfer that from generation to generation: Beckenbauer, Hoeness, Rummenigge.

"Or there are models in England of quick money and quick success. Both can work.

“I like the fact that a club is first an identity and has knowledge that is transferred from generation to generation. So that’s why I saw things that way.”

Arsenal have made big off-pitch moves this summer to restructure the senior management and recruitment process at the club.