Arsene Wenger agrees new two-year deal after persuading Arsenal he is still the right man - now he must prove it

The Frenchman's new contract will keep him at the club until 2019, when he will be 69

An official announcement is expected to be made on Wednesday (Getty)

Arsene Wenger has agreed a new two-year deal at Arsenal that will be announced on Wednesday. The agreement, after Wenger met with majority shareholder Stan Kroenke on Monday, will be ratified at an Arsenal board meeting this afternoon.

The news that Wenger will stay ends a whole year of uncertainty that by the manager’s own admission has damaged the team this season. After the Gunners finished fifth in the Premier League, their worst finish for 21 years, Wenger conceded that they had played in an “absolutely horrendous” psychological environment. He put this in part down to all the speculation over his future.

But then on Saturday at Wembley Arsenal produced their best performance in years to beat Chelsea 2-1 and win the FA Cup.

The new two-year deal is a personal triumph for Wenger. He had always wanted to stay at Arsenal, where he has been manager since 1996. But he wanted to do so with the unambiguous support of the board, and with the same powers as manager he has always enjoyed.

Chief executive Ivan Gazidis has been pushing for changes behind the scenes, including a technical director. Wenger has strongly opposed this and the tensions have spilled over into public, with Wenger pointedly questioning what a technical director can do, as well as the value of statistical analysis, another pet Gazidis topic.

But months of discussions have resulted in an agreement that Wenger is happy with, and a clear sense from Kroenke and the board that the veteran manager is still the right man to take the club forward.

Now that Wenger’s future and his power are confirmed, he has a serious list of problems to solve if he wants Arsenal to mount a serious title challenge next season. Arsenal have not won the Premier League since 2004, a failing which was one of the main arguments for fans who wanted to see him replaced.

If Arsenal are to build on this season, their first priority must be to retain their top players whose contracts have just one year left to run. Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil are both out of contract this time next year and Arsenal are prepared to offer them both generous deals in order to keep them at the Emirates.

While Ozil is expected to eventually agree a new deal, Sanchez is keener to leave and Arsenal are braced for big bids from Manchester City and Chelsea. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is another player with one year left, and there has not yet been much optimism on either side of him extending his stay there. Hector Bellerin has six years left on his contract and yet Barcelona are still expected to try and tempt him back to the Nou Camp this summer, a move that Bellerin would certainly be open to.

Then there is a whole set of players with one year left who Wenger would be happier to move on, including Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs and Mathieu Debuchy. Arsenal need a mass clear-out, not just of senior players but of youngsters such as Jon Toral and Chuba Akpom who have struggled to break through.

If Arsenal lose players then they will need to replace them properly. Wenger’s big two signings from last summer, Shkodran Mustafi and Granit Xhaka, enjoyed mixed first season at the Emirates. Lucas Perez, a £17m signing from Deportivo La Coruna, barely made an impression on the first team. Arsenal’s transfer department, in whichever new form it takes, will have a huge job this summer and will need to deliver better players if the team is to be competitive.

One area where Wenger can point to his own improvement, and him justifying his new contract, is the way that the team played in the final weeks of the season, especially in the cup final itself. Wenger had been criticised for being too wedded to his 4-2-3-1 system, his liberal approach to coaching and his team’s leaky defence. But the switch to a 3-4-2-1 tightened up the team, gave them a new solidity and allowed them to beat first Manchester City then Chelsea at Wembley, two wins few expected. When Wenger said on Saturday evening that the Arsenal board should watch the cup final back before deciding on his future, it was clear what he meant.

Alexis Sanchez & Mesut Ozil both have 12 months left on their current deals (Getty)

Ultimately this decision to give Wenger a new deal postpones a decision that Arsenal did not want to make this summer. The three-year contract Wenger signed in 2014 was expected to be his last but of course it has not proven this way. By the end of the 2018-19 season Wenger will be 69 years old and who knows how enthusiastic he will be to stay in the job then.

But Wenger and Arsenal must now start planning for what will happen after Wenger goes, in case these two years are his last at the club. Because Wenger is a unique figure in football who cannot be directly replaced. They will need a new structure to replace him, the type of structure Gazidis initially wanted to introduce this year. Arsenal must start work now on what that will be and who might be able to work in it. If they do not then the sense of crisis that has pervaded this season will only return two years down the line.