Arsene Wenger has reaffirmed his commitment to Arsenal by pledging not to leave the Gunners while he has a contract at the club.
Wenger has three years left on his current deal and has said in the past that a role with Paris Saint-Germain could tempt him to one day leave the Emirates.
But with talk surrounding the club about players not signing extensions to their contracts, the Frenchman has dismissed the suggestion that he could leave the Gunners and move back to his homeland.
“I have three years to go with Arsenal and I always respect my contract. It looks like PSG are coming in at a time when Marseille are a little less strong,” he told reporters.
“Lyon have dominated French football for the last 10 years. Marseille won two years ago and Lille last year but before that it was all Lyon. It looks like PSG are coming in at the right time.”
Wenger takes his side to Marseille on Wednesday for an important Champions League match, but the club hold painful memories for the Frenchman who was manager of Monaco when the Champions League winners were found guilty of bribery.
Previously, Wenger has intimated the corrupt regime may have denied him significant success in France, though he has now chosen to move on.
“That is over now, because the owners are not the same. Now it is completely different. Football has changed in France,” Wenger said.
“I’m happy to go to back to Marseille, because it has memories of passionate games. Of course, since I was there, times have changed.”
“It’s good. I love Marseille as a city. It is a real football city. I’m happy to go back there.”
“I don’t think there is any need any more to speak about this period because it was not the happiest period of French football.”
“It was an interesting experience in my life.”
“At the end of the day, it is that. It makes you stronger or you get out of the job. It is as simple as that.”
Wenger, who admitted to nearly signing Marseille midfielder Lucho Gonzalez on loan last year, also denied that central defender Thomas Vermaelen, who has just signed a new four-year contract with the club, is injury-prone.
Vermaelen has only completed four matches for the Gunners in the past year having struggled with Achilles injuries, but his manager believes it is merely a coincidence and that the Belgian could go on a long run of matches without getting injured again.
There’s no medical reason why he should not play 50 games on the trot now. I always was a bit suspicious – why should that happen only on one side? I thought at some stage the other side will come as well, and it did,” Wenger said.
“This (contract) shows how much we trust him. We think it’s a genetic accident what he had, because he had it on both sides, exactly the same injury.”
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