“I should have gone somewhere else" - Arsene Wenger admits identifying himself completely with Arsenal was a mistake

Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed his one true flaw while managing the Gunners. In a new documentary, the Frenchman revealed that he should have left the club earlier.

Wenger said:

“I should have gone somewhere else. My fatal flaw was that I loved too much where I was. I identified myself completely with Arsenal and that was the mistake I regret. But now there is no special reason for me to go there.”

He added:

“I could have gone to the French national team, the English national team three times, I could have gone twice to Real Madrid, to Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and even to Manchester United.”

Wenger's last decade at the club was marred by criticism from fans. He did, however, get a warm reception on his retirement day at the club. The Frenchman recalled:

“It’s the end of your life, like a funeral. On the day everyone is nice to you and one week before you have to face a lot of criticism. I managed to control my emotions but, of course, the end of a love story is always sad.”

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Arsene Wenger talks about life beyond Arsenal

Speaking about how the passion for football consumed his life, Wenger said:

“The meaning of my whole life was football and sometimes I’m afraid to acknowledge it. I am a hermit. I lived in a bubble, my own little triangle of home, training centre and football stadium. I have the addiction gene and when you have that, you don’t develop some of the aspects of your personality that you should.”

He was also brave enough to talk about how he missed out on other aspects of life.

“I feel guilty because my passion created selfishness. My passion for football made me not take enough care of the people around me. I would have loved to have had a bigger family and now I am so grateful to have my daughter. I try to repair things but this desire not to lose makes you inhuman and destroys part of you.”

As always, the professor concluded with some deep insights about people and their behavior.

“Women kill for love and men kill because they hate to lose. I meet many huge champions and they only talk about what they lost. Success is easy to absorb but the defeat remains forever. It hurt so much when we lost that sometimes I threw up.”

Wenger ended his time at Arsenal after managing the Gunners in 1224 matches. In that time, he collected 708 wins and led them to three Premier Leagues, seven FA Cups and seven Community Shields.