Is it time for Wenger to leave Arsenal?

Is it time for Arsene Wenger to step down at Arsenal?

Arsene Wenger ranks among the all-time great Arsenal managers, but has the time come for the Frenchman to finally leave the club?

When Wenger arrived at Arsenal in October 1996 there were a lot of question marks over his appointment. Many asked who this man was taking over the reins of one of the top English clubs coming in from Nagoya Grampus Eight in the Japanese J League.

He didn't take long to win over the fans though, as Wenger's Arsenal won the Double in his first full season and repeated that impressive feat in 2002. In total Wenger has won three Premier League titles and five FA Cups with Arsenal, but many still focus on that nine-year barren run without a major trophy.

Without Wenger, Arsenal fans will not have been able to see some of the fabulous players to grace the club during his tenure, the likes of Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry, Emmanuel Petit, Marc Overmars and Cesc Fabregas. Over the course of more than 1,000 games, the 65-year-old has moulded the club and even reinvented it at times, with the modern-day Arsenal now blessed with a nucleus of young British talent all tied down to long-term contracts.

He has also overseen a huge transformation of the club, moving from Highbury into the fantastic Emirates stadium. The initial years after building the new stadium saw the club handling debts as a result. During that time Wenger still managed to ensure Arsenal competed on the pitch with the best in England and Europe. Many criticised his bargain signings and insistent on developing youth, but that was a necessary evil to some degree as Wenger didn't have the transfer budget of some of his rivals.

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What cannot be argued against is that Wenger boasts an impressive record of getting Arsenal into the Champions League for 17 consecutive season - just imagine how much of a financial boost that has given to the club during that time.

He is now benefiting from the extra revenues created by the Emirates and has been able to spend big in the transfer market in recent years. The problem for Wenger is that his high-profile big signings are a bit hit-and-miss, such as the 40million man Mesut Ozil, and he has been criticised for not strengthening in the right areas - especially after losing star players such as Fabregas. This season, while fans heralded the arrival of Alexis Sanchez, many were not as enamoured by the signing of Danny Welbeck.

There remains a stand-off at the Emirates as Wenger has a contract which runs until 2017. He will not break that contract and Arsenal will not want to sack him, as an ugly dismissal sours what has been a positive relationship and removes any possibility of Wenger moving upstairs. So the only realistic possibility is that Wenger himself puts together a succession plan which sees him taking on a 'Director of Football' role and a hand-picked replacement taking over the reins.

For all those Arsenal fans calling for Wenger to go, a realistic question has to be who could you get who is better? The Gunners need to ensure they are replacing Wenger with equal or better, and there are not many of those managers around. The likes of Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti already have plum jobs, while the most suitable man for the job seems to be Borussia Dortmund's Jurgen Klopp. However, there is also an option for Wenger to promote from within and, after years of being his reliable deputy that would put Steve Bould, who has no managerial experience, in the reckoning.

It is certainly not the time for Wenger to leave Arsenal completely, but with the club under-performing this season, maybe the time is right to get the wheels in motion for a move upstairs come the end of this campaign.