Arsene Wenger Only Kept One of the Medals He Won With Arsenal After Shock U-Turn
Arsene Wenger decided to keep just one of the medal he won during his legendary Arsenal career for a special reason.
When reflecting on the best Premier League managers of all-time, Wenger is certainly among the names at the very top of the list.
The Frenchman led Arsenal through one of the most successful periods in the club's history, winning three Premier League titles, including the legendary 2004 Invincibles season, a record seven FA Cups, and seven Community Shields.
So much success meant that Wenger as his players were of course rewarded with plenty of medals and trophies during their time together.
Advert
However, there is only one that the legendary Arsenal manager has kept as he choose not to get rid of it as he had done with all the others as it was particularly special to him.
Although the Invincible Premier League title, in which Arsenal team completed the entire league campaign without a single defeat (26 wins, 12 draws) is no doubt the defining achievement of Wenger's career, it wasn't the medal he decided to keep.
Instead, Wenger decided that he couldn't part ways with the medal awarded to him after he won a record-setting seventh FA Cup in 2017.
However, that wasn't always the plan, as the Arsenal boss claimed ahead of the historic match with Chelsea that he has no interest in looking back on the past.
"I have no medals at home from anything," he told reporters at the time.
"You come to my home you will be surprised. There is no trophy, no medal, nothing.
"I give them always out. There is always a guy at the club who did not get a medal, a member of staff so I have given it to him. So you are always a medal short and you will always find someone who takes it."
He continued: "I am not a back-looker. I am always forward. At home you would not even guess that I am a football manager, apart from the fact that a football game is on.
"I am not separated from football. I am completely in football. I watch the game that is on the night but I don't look back what we have won, what we have done and all that, what we have lost.
"I have memories of the human beings, human experiences. That is more shared emotions and things like that."
But after goals from Alexis Sanchez and the winning strike from Aaron Ramsey secured the historic trophy, Wenger admitted that he had changed his mind and instead wanted to hold on to the special medal.
Speaking post-match, Wenger told Arsenal Player: "It feels special because I feel we beat the record of winning the cup and we needed two outstanding performances in the final and semi-final.
"For me personally, it’s the seventh FA Cup. Just to get to one final [is good] but the luck to have won it seven times is absolutely exceptional.
“It’s the first medal I will keep because it’s the seventh one. That has never been done so I will keep this one.
Topics: Arsene Wenger, Arsenal, Football, Premier League, FA Cup
Ben McCrum