• Premier League

Arsene Wenger's Arsenal love affair started at Monaco

Arsene Wenger claims he fell in love with Arsenal on his first visit to watch them in action back in 1989.

Wenger was Monaco coach when he diverted a scouting trip back to France via London to take in a match over the Christmas period.

"I remember the first time I visited Highbury, I was on my own and it was January 2, 1989," Wenger told Arsenal Magazine.

The game against Tottenham finished 2-0 to Arsenal, with the goals coming from Paul Merson and Michael Thomas.

"I had been in Turkey two days earlier watching Monaco's next opponents in the European Cup and I had to fly back on January 1, but I saw that in England they play football at that time of year so I decided to fly back from Ankara to France via London to watch a game first.

"I immediately thought that football in England was great. There was a fantastic atmosphere at Highbury and I just wondered 'is everywhere like this? Even at that time I thought it would be great to be part of that.

"Obviously on that day I could never imagine that I would come back one day as manager, it was not even in my head. It was just a coincidence because on that day I first met [former vice-chairman] David Dein and from then on we developed a friendship."

Dein's decision to appoint Wenger as Arsenal manager in 1996 proved to be a pivotal moment in English football, with the influx of foreign players and managers coming on the back of Wenger's success and he has also shaped the club on and off the pitch during his tenure.

He was a strong supporter of the development of Emirates Stadium, as well as the construction of a state-of-the-art training base for the club in Hertfordshire, which Arsenal are now looking to expand.

Their London Colney training centre is already one of the more impressive in the Premier League, but it seems that the club are keen to revamp their strength and conditioning set-up after another season that has featured a host of lengthy injuries to high-profile players.

"When the training centre was first opened in 1999 the centre was considered one of the best in Europe," an Arsenal statement read.

"Today, while additional improvements have been made to the medical rehabilitation areas improving the response of players to long term injury, other areas have fallen behind in football development terms.

"In particular facilities for strength and conditioning and analytical research have fallen behind top European and Premier League clubs.

"The facilities and equipment planned for this new building are now considered essential by all the top clubs to assist in preparing and developing footballing talent.

"They are now deemed essential facilities by footballs governing body and medical professionals and all of the facilities proposed have been incorporated at St George's Park, the national Football Centre and at Loughborough University where national sporting bodies have training bases using these facilities."

Arsene Wenger arrived at Arsenal in 1996 © Getty Images

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