London: Beleaguered Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has decided to stay at the club, according to British media reports yesterday.
The Daily Telegraph and Daily Mirror said Wenger will inform Arsenal’s board he wants to extend his contract, which expires at the end of the season.
West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Pulis also said Wenger told him he intended to stay on after Arsenal’s 3-1 defeat at The Hawthorns on Saturday.
“I’ll be surprised if he goes,” Pulis told reporters after Saturday’s game, as revealed in Monday’s newspapers.
Asked why he thought Wenger would stay, Pulis replied: “Because he told me.”
Wenger, 67, has come under fire from fans after Arsenal were thrashed by Bayern Munich in the Champions League and slipped out of the Premier League’s top four.
Supporters renewed calls for him to step down during and after the defeat at West Brom, with some holding up “WENGER OUT” banners.
Speaking after the game, Wenger said he had made up his mind about his future and would make his intentions public “very soon”.
Arsenal have not commented on the reports on Wenger’s future. But the club have denied a claim in yesterday’s edition of German daily Bild that they have approached Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel as a possible Wenger replacement.
“That’s not true,” an Arsenal spokesman told Germany’s Sky Sports News.