Wenger turns down $37m a year in China

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is said to have turned down a stunning offer from a Chinese Super League club which would have made him the highest-paid manager in the world.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is seen during the press conference on February 14, 2017.??[Photo/Agencies]

British media reports said an unnamed Chinese soccer club offered to pay the Arsenal manager 30 million pounds ($37 million) a year, double what the current best-paid manager Pep Guardiola earns at Manchester City. The reports suggested that the Gunners'boss rejected the offer to focus on Arsenal for the remainder of the season.

Mark Dreyer, a Beijing-based sports writer who edits the China Sports Insider website, said he did not see Wenger as a good fit in China: "He has been at Arsenal for so long, and it is almost impossible to see him at another club. I don’t think he is going to suddenly jump ship, as he has had so many offers for other jobs, such as the England job, that he has not taken."

The alleged offer dwarves the two-year extension that Arsenal has proposed to Wenger, which would pay him about 10 million pounds a year.

Dreyer said: "I don’t see him going to China for the money. I am sure he is very well paid at Arsenal, - not 30 million pounds a year - but that is not his motivation at this stage in his career and he is a long-term type of guy."

Wenger has been under pressure from some Arsenal fans to leave after the club’s poor performance in the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League.

Following Arsenal’s 5-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League, Wenger, 67, confirmed he would not retire, saying "no matter what happens, I will manage next season, whether it’s here or somewhere else."

Simon Chadwick, a professor of sports enterprise at Salford Business School in Manchester, UK, said "Wenger is arguably the most experienced manager in club football anywhere in the world. His success at Arsenal has been achieved using a combination of home-grown talent and shrewdly acquired players."

"Both are what China needs right now - especially the former - if it is to achieve its global football ambitions, so it is no surprise that he has been attracting the attention of Chinese clubs."

Chadwick thinks Wenger is particularly well qualified to work in China as he has previous experience of East Asia, having worked in Japan, saying "interestingly, he did so at a time when the J-League was at the same stage of development as the CSL now finds itself."

Wenger has failed to take Arsenal to victory in the English Premier League for 13 years and his teams often seem fragile.

Chadwick said that he no longer appears able to keep pace with younger, more progressive managers such as Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp - the current manager of Liverpool - which suggests that China would be best to see Wenger as a senior leader and director rather than as a day-to-day coach.