Arsene Wenger recalls being offered Manchester United job but insists he was always ‘loyal’ to Arsenal

The Arsene Wenger farewell tour rolls into Old Trafford this Saturday, for his final huge Premier League clash, and probably his fourth from last game as Arsenal manager. But the modern history of English football would have run very differently had Wenger accepted an offer from United to replace Sir Alex Ferguson, back when he was first considering retirement at the end of the 2001-02 season.

Speaking after Arsenal’s frustrating 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid on Thursday night, Wenger discussed in more detail than ever before what happened when Martin Edwards and Peter Kenyon made him their number one choice to replace Ferguson.

Edwards, who recently described Wenger as his “first choice” to replace Ferguson, met Wenger at his north London home, only for Wenger to stick with Arsenal, and Ferguson to reverse his own decision, managing United for another 11 seasons, winning another six Premier League titles and a Champions League along the way.

“Arsenal is the love of my life,” explained Wenger. “I turned many, many, many jobs down to stay here, and face the challenge when we build the stadium.” Real Madrid and Manchester City both tried to tempt Wenger away, without success. “I speak to everybody. I met Martin Edwards. Many people came to see me in my home. But I was always, I think, loyal to this club.”

As it happens, Jose Mourinho is now United manager, a man with whom Wenger has had his share of issues over the years. During Mourinho’s second spell at Chelsea, he called Wenger a “specialist in failure”, and Wenger served a touchline ban for pushing him in the technical area at Stamford Bridge.

But when asked about what may well be his last ever meeting with Mourinho, Wenger refused to stoke up the rivalry one final time. He even asked not to be pushed “into a final confrontation” with a man he has clashed so much with.

“I say goodbye to everybody,” Wenger said. “In France we say au revoir, that means he might see me again. I respect him. Of course I respect him a lot. You should give me a little bit of peace for my final weeks and not push me into a final confrontation. I want to go peaceful.”

Wenger spoke of his own respect for the great United teams he has gone up against over the years, even though the rivalry at that times was sometimes difficult and unpleasant.

“We had some great battles over 22 years,” he said. “When I look back now, I realise what a great team they had: Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, David Beckham all young. Then Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. It shows you that the challenge was absolutely huge. I think I realise that better with the distance than at the time.”

For Wenger the priority is now to prepare the team for next Thursday’s semi-final in Madrid, when Arsenal must produce a heroic result to reach the Europa League final in Lyon. That means he is ready to make wholesale changes to keep his best players fit for the second round, even if it means reducing the possibility of one glorious final triumph at Old Trafford.

“I will be focused on winning the game,” Wenger said. “For me, it will be at stake to recover from that result before we go to Atletico Madrid.”