Arsenal legend says Arsene Wenger is not ready to take the England job, says Lee Dixon
Former Gunners defender Dixon believes the Frenchman would miss daily involvement of club football
ARSENE WENGER is not ready to start “backing down a little bit” and take the England job, says Arsenal legend Lee Dixon.
The former Gunners right-back spent six seasons playing under the French coach from 1996 until 2002, winning the Premier League three times and an FA Cup.
Wenger is high on the Football Association wanted list to replace Sam Allardyce as the permanent Three Lions chief following the corruption scandal that cost Big Sam his job on Tuesday.
Arsenal are keen to tie Wenger, aged 66, to a new two-year deal before his current contract expires in the summer.
Gareth Southgate has been placed in temporary charge for the next four matches, but the FA are expected to make another attempt to lure Wenger away from the club where he has spent 20 years.
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Ex-defender Dixon, however, is not convinced his former boss is ready to step away form the daily grind of club management and move into the international set-up just yet.
Dixon told ITV: “Whenever he's spoken about it to me or when I've been in his company, he's always said that international management is not for him right now, and that's gone right up until this point.
“He's at the end of his contract, if he wins something with Arsenal or if he doesn't win something with Arsenal, I think it will come to a head one way or another.
“Would he then just fancy backing down a little bit? Knowing him, he likes to be involved in the day to day basis with the game… whether international football fits that bill I'm not sure.”
Wenger has already rebuffed the FA once when they contacted him following Roy Hodgson’s dismissal after Euro 2016.
But the experienced manager did reveal on Wednesday that he was flattered to be linked with the job once again.
Wenger said: “Of course I am flattered, but my priority has always been this club. Until the end of the season I am here and I am completely focused on that.”
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