I knew that Alex Ferguson was going to quit, says Arsene Wenger

 
P66 Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger
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James Olley13 May 2013

Arsene Wenger today claimed he suspected as early as last summer that Sir Alex Ferguson would retire as manager of Manchester United.

Ferguson announced his decision to step down on Wednesday after more than 26 years in charge and was given an emotional send-off in his final match at Old Trafford which ended in a 2-1 victory over Swansea yesterday.

Wenger and Ferguson were once fierce adversaries but their relationship has been more cordial in recent years and the Arsenal manager revealed he always suspected the 71-year-old would walk away this summer.

“I was not surprised and I told my staff a long time ago I think that it will be Alex Ferguson’s last year,” said Wenger. “So I was not completely surprised. I detected a few signs through the season — there was already one of them before the season started, that it could be his final year.”

That pre-season sign could have been in Ferguson’s desperation to sign Robin van Persie from the Gunners. Even accounting for the Dutchman’s quality, it was an unusual move for Ferguson to spend £24million on a 29-year-old given United’s preference for buying younger players.

Wenger and Ferguson spoke directly to negotiate Van Persie’s departure and it is plausible that the latter may have hinted at his possible retirement in a bid to help complete the deal.

Pushed directly on whether Ferguson had mentioned leaving in talks between the pair, Wenger smiled, paused and replied: “I wouldn’t like to come back on that. I will let you know one day!

“You have to respect his decision [to retire]. It is sad because it is the end of a remarkable career. He got a lot of praise that he deserves.

“There is a double challenge now, the first is for Manchester United to replace a guy of that stature and the second challenge is for Alex Ferguson to have a life as passionate and as interesting as the life he had until now. But you have to respect the decision.

“After 26 years, he just won the championship, he knows it will be more difficult even for Manchester United to have that consistency now because there are so many teams who have financial power.”

Arsenal face Wigan at Emirates Stadium tomorrow night requiring victory to retake fourth place from Tottenham ahead of Sunday’s final round of Premier League fixtures.

The Gunners will have goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski available after a rib injury with defender Kieran Gibbs also likely to be fit from a thigh problem and Wenger urged his side to seize the opportunity of securing Champions League football for a 16th consecutive season.

Wigan will be relegated barring an unlikely shift in goal difference should they fail to win and Wenger said: “It is a very important game for both sides, so we expect huge commitment on both sides.

“We play at home and we want to take advantage of that. We are on a remarkable run, we have been hugely consistent and we are in a position where our destiny depends on us and we want to finish the job.”

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