Arsene Wenger signs new deal!

Yes, I know I'm very far behind the news, you can blame school for that, but I need to post something on the greatest signing of the summer.

First, below are some of questions put to Wenger in his interview about the newly signed deal, that will keep him at the club until 2011.

So you've decided to stay. Can you tell us why you've extended your contract?

Because I love the Club. I love the job I have at Arsenal Football Club, I love to win and I feel I can win with Arsenal. They're the main reasons.

Is Arsenal a special environment for you because you have complete control and complete freedom?

Yes, it is a special environment for me. But as well you must be careful to respond to that kind of trust and confidence by achieving the results and, as well, by behaving like the Club wants you to behave. It's a club of values, traditions and you feel that you have to respond to that kind of responsibility.

Will you look to stay beyond 2011?

I don't know. I will see how I feel at that time. Three years more is a long period and you have to see if you can always feel the ambitions of the Club and respond to the expectations people have - results wise and in the way you play. Can this club make another step forward in the next years? If I can, why not? If I'm healthy enough, why not?

What do you want to achieve now?

I want to win the Championship, win the Champions League and be consistent. It's simple.

How much does this young side energise you?

I must say that it's a great pleasure to work with this team because we share the same hunger and desire to do well. I'm confident we can. We have great belief, we trust each other and so it's a good basis. I have enough belief in their quality but, of course, it's only the start of the season. It's better to have a good start than no start at all.

You've built a couple of great Arsenal sides, the one in 1998, and the one which spanned 2002 to 2004. Does this squad have the ability to achieve what they did? Maybe even more?

Yes, they have the ability. Don't forget this squad has been in the Champions League Final without losing a game. A big part of the squad has done remarkably well performance wise in the Carling Cup, and, of course, they are maturing very quickly. The first signs this season are that the team has really matured. There's a completely different attitude - a completely different attitude - towards the competition. They're more responsible, more disciplined and that can bring success.


As far as I am concerned, ignore the signings of Nani, Tevez and Anderson to Man Utd, ignore the signing of Torres and Babel to Liverpool, Yakubu to Everton and Malouda to Chelsea - this is the real signing of the summer, and there's no doubt about that in my mind. He's very probably the best thing to ever happen to Arsenal, and without his vision and sheer class Arsenal would not be the club it is today. We can be proud that our club is led by such an unbelievable man, who has continously bought fantastic players to the club such as Vieira, Thiery Henry and Freddie Ljungberg and will continue to do so in the future. And when you look at signings like Fabregas for free and Kolo Toure for under £500,000, his genius is unrivalled in the modern game.

And I feel with the team spirit as strong as it seems, and the positive start to the season, after everything the club has gone through in the last six months, we may finally be about to climb up the table and challenge for trophies once more after two years of building. And it is a massive sign of what Wenger has made us into, when we consider two years without a trophy as underachieving....