Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is open to taking up the England job after his contract runs out at the end of next season according to reports from ESPNFC. The Frenchman is in the final year of his contract and has already stated he will see it out before deciding on his future.
England were recently humiliated at the Euros after they were knocked out by Iceland in the round of 16. Rooney gave the Three Lions an early lead but that was the only real positive from their performance in the entire match.
Iceland played with a lot of bravery and were very well drilled and outsmarted the English in every possible way. The result will go down as one of the biggest upsets in the competition’s history.
Roy Hodgson resigned immediately after their exit and the FA are left with the dilemma of choosing their next manager. Hodgson was probably a very shaky choice to start with. His tactics were not always the most orthodox.
In the Iceland game, the manager failed to fix the issues of his players’ positioning and tactics. Experts said the manager was unsure of who his best XI was and that contributed to the team not having a proper strategy throughout the tournament.
The FA has to now decide on his successor, someone who has experience of winning trophies and is tactically adept. Since Wenger will only be available after the end of next season an interim manager will have to be appointed for the coming campaign.
Gareth Southgate is a name that has been whispered loudly. The manager has experience and is currently the head of the youth team of England. He might look like the ideal replacement but if they want to start winning international tournaments a manager with the know-how of doing that might be a better fit.
There is also the possibility of Wenger being offered a contract extension before the end of next season to avoid speculation about his future. Arsenal fans have been disgruntled with the efforts of the club to win major silverware and Wenger in particular has taken a lot of stick for that in the last few months.
So it might not be as straightforward for the board to tie him down to a new contract which will give the FA encouragement. Jurgen Klinsmann is another who has been linked with the job but with him currently coaching the US team he also is a long shot.
