Arsenal has unveiled a statue of former manager, Arsène Wenger lifting the Premier League trophy at the Emirate Stadium as a mark to commemorate his achievement and 22 years resplendent spell with the club.
“Arsenal Football Club is delighted to announce that a statue of our former manager Arsène Wenger has been unveiled at Emirates Stadium to commemorate Arsène’s truly remarkable contribution to our football club.”
Arsène Wenger served Arsenal between October 1996 and May 2018, in which time he led the club to three Premier League titles, including an entire season unbeaten, seven FA Cup wins and 20 successive years in the UEFA Champions League.
During Arsène’s 22 years at the club with Arsenal, he coached the senior team to an incredible 1235 matches becoming the first manager to achieve such a feat.
The statue of Arsène is already in place at Emirates Stadium, where it was carefully fixed into position outside the North Bank stand on Friday morning. It is now easily accessible for all to view.
The bronze statue, which was created by award-winning sculptor Jim Guy, is 3.5 metres high and weighs approximately half a tonne, and depicts our former French manager lifting the Premier League trophy.
Tim Lewis, our Executive Vice Chair, said: “We’re delighted to recognize and celebrate Arsène Wenger’s outstanding leadership and career at Arsenal Football Club. Arsène’s contribution to, and achievements with, the club mark him out as the club’s greatest manager. He treated the club and its supporters to many trophies and fantastic memories and brought a revolution in the running of the club, an unbeaten season and the move to Emirates Stadium.
“It is fitting, therefore, that as a mark of the club’s enduring respect and gratitude, a magnificent statue of Arsène now stands outside Emirates Stadium. It is a place where our supporters and all who visit Emirates Stadium can be reminded of Arsène’s contribution and his legacy.”
Our manager Mikel Arteta added: “It’s such a great tribute that the club has done something special for Arsène that he fully deserves and merits. With a statue now at the stadium, Arsène can have that recognition and be here at our club forever.
“I’m so grateful to have played for Arsène at this club in my career. He chose me to be one of his players and selected me to be the captain of the club, and that’s something I will never forget.” — hear more from Mikel.
The club said that their former manager will be their guest of honour during the Emirate Cup match against AS Monaco – where he will be taking time to visit his status:
“Arsène will be our guest of honour for the Emirates Cup match against AS Monaco on Wednesday, August 2, and will also be taking time to visit his statue in the forthcoming days.”
The club also disclosed that five statuses of former legends were also created:
“The commemoration of Arsène joins five other statues currently on the podium around the Emirates Stadium: Tony Adams, Dennis Bergkamp, Herbert Chapman, Ken Friar, and Thierry Henry which have been unveiled in recent years to mark the contributions of key figures in our club’s history.”
