What if: Arsene Wenger had joined Manchester United instead of Arsenal

#4 Arsenal would not be consistent contenders for European places

Without Wenger, Arsenal would not have been regular contenders for European positions

Prior to Wenger’s arrival, Arsenal had finished 10th, 4th, 12th and 5th in their 4 seasons in the Premier League. Just to make it clearer, that’s an average league position of approx 8 over 4 seasons. After Wenger’s arrival, Arsenal then finished 3rd, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 2nd over the next 9 seasons. That’s an average league position of 1.78.

In case you are an Arsenal fan and part of the Wenger Out brigade, this should serve as a timely reminder of the impact Wenger had. Almost single-handedly, he hauled Arsenal up from mid-table to turn them into consistent CL participants; they became part of the famous “Big Four”.

We can only speculate who would have taken over at Arsenal if not Wenger, but we can all agree that few if any could have replicated the success he enjoyed. Arsenal in other hands would have been something like the Everton of present – always up for a challenge; but not quite in the topmost echelon.