Arsene Wenger successor will represent his values but won't replace him, says Arsenal chief Ivan Gazidis

While Gazidis did not deny that the Arsenal board had encouraged Wenger to step down, he did spell out the criteria for finding the club's next manager

Ivan Gazidis pointed to style of play, rather than results and trophies, as the first criteria for the new manager (Getty)

The next Arsenal manager will play “exciting, progressive football”, will play young players and will represent the values of Arsene Wenger, according to chief executive Ivan Gazidis who will formally begin the recruitment process tonight.

Gazidis gave a press conference at the Emirates Stadium this afternoon, hours after the club confirmed that Wenger will leave at the end of this season. While Gazidis did not deny that the Arsenal board had encouraged Wenger to step down, he did spell out the criteria for finding the club's next manager. And Gazidis insisted that the club had not spoken to other managers before today, out of respect to Wenger, but that the process of recruitment would now begin.

Although Arsenal have now not won the Premier League title since 2004, or reached a Champions League final since 2006, Gazidis pointed to style of play, rather than results and trophies, as the first criteria for the new manager.

“It is important to me that we continue the football values that Arsene has instilled in the club,” Gazidis said. “I want to see someone who can continue that for our fans, and our fans want to see that. Someone who will continue to play exciting, progressive football, that gets people interested and excited in the games we play.”

Gazidis also pointed to the ambassadorial role of the new manager in projecting the club’s values off the pitch. “I also think there is a significant piece in Arsenal Football Club in how the candidate represents the club, and I think it’s important to Arsenal fans, those qualities” he said. “You mentioned again replacing Arsene, that’s not going to happen. But we have to make sure we don’t lose his qualities and his values in the club and that we take them forward.”

The third criteria Gazidis mentioned is promoting and playing young players from the Arsenal academy, just as Wenger has done over the years. “Another value is young players,” he said. “Our academy teams are doing extremely well. Under the radar we’ve got a lot of players coming through into our first team. Not just ones that you already know about, but the next generation as well. So that value of giving youth a chance is also very important to the football club.”

While the decision to appoint Wenger from Japanese football in 1996 was met with surprise, Gazidis said he would be willing to take a bold decision this year too. “I think we’ve got to be open-minded and also brave in the decision,” he said. “We need to be bold in the appointment and get the person that we believe is the right person.”

Gazidis made clear that the new manager will have diminished powers compared to those that Wenger enjoyed here for 22 years. Gazidis has put a new modern management structure in place, with a head of recruitment, and so he said it would be “unrealistic” for the new man to have the old-fashioned range of managerial powers.

“Arsene earned his position at this club over 22 years,” Wenger said. “I don’t think that there will be other managers, if you look forward, who will have that kind of authority, at the top of the game, at the biggest clubs. Obviously it is the most important appointment that any club makes, and it is still the most important employee that any club has, so I don’t diminish the role. I just think it would be unrealistic to think that anybody will come in with the breadth and scope that Arsene has had at Arsenal.”

Gazidis repeatedly ducked questions about how the decision was made, saying that wanted to protect the privacy of “private conversations” between Wenger and the board. When asked why Wenger signed a two-year deal in 2017 only to walk away half-way through it, Gazidis said “today is not for” going into the details of this week. Wenger is thought to have decided earlier this week to announce his departure because he would otherwise have been dismissed by the board.

When Gazidis was asked whether he had wanted Wenger to stay, Gazidis repeated that he did “not want to get into all the discussions that went on”. “The decision is made,” Gazidis continued. “I think now it’s time for us to honour him today.”