The FA is reportedly set to make another attempt to appoint Arsenal manager Arsene
Wenger as the new England boss following Sam Allardyce leaving the post on
Tuesday after just one game in charge.
Per Matt Law in the Telegraph, Wenger, 66, was top of
the FA's list when it was looking for a replacement for Roy Hodgson after Euro
2016 and is now prepared to wait until his current Gunners contract
expires at the end of 2016-17 to place him in the job.
However, per Law, English football's governing body
"face a battle with Arsenal owner Stan Kroenke," who is trying to tie
Wenger—Gunners manager for the past 20 years—to an extended deal at the
Emirates Stadium.
Allardyce left the England job by mutual consent after being
caught up in a Telegraph sting in which he was filmed by undercover
reporters offering advice on how to "get around" FA rules on
transferring players, per BBC Sport.
The former West Ham United and Sunderland boss took the
job after Hodgson resigned following England's humiliating exit from Euro 2016
at the hands of Iceland.
Per Law, the FA moved to appoint Allardyce only after they
came to the conclusion they did not want to wait an entire year to place Wenger
in the job—the Frenchman having said he would not break his contract with
Arsenal.
However, England under-21 manager Gareth Southgate is now
set to take charge of the senior team for the next four matches—against Malta,
Slovenia, Scotland and Spain.
That leaves only one scheduled Three Lions match unaccounted
for before the end of the 2016-17 term—the March 26 clash against
Lithuania.
If Southgate could take charge of that match also, the
FA would now reportedly be prepared to let Wenger see out the rest of his deal
with Arsenal and take over England next summer, per Law.
Former executive director of the FA David Davies has backed
the potential appointment of Wenger, per BBC Breakfast's Dan Walker:
Certainly he has more pedigree than many of the other
possible candidates on the shortlist, which includes Steve Bruce, Alan Pardew,
Eddie Howe and Southgate himself, per BBC Sport's Saj Chowdhury.
A three-time Premier League champion and six-time FA Cup
winner, Wenger also has huge experience of the English game thanks to his
longevity in the Arsenal job.
He would be a high-profile and exciting appointment from the
FA, but it will be a very tricky move for the English governing body to pull
off given that Kroenke and Arsenal want Wenger to remain.
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