Arsène Wenger has admitted he could be tempted by the prospect of managing England “one day”.
The Arsenal manager is celebrating 20 years at the helm in north London but has been linked with succeeding Sam Allardyce as England manager when his contract expires next summer.
“My priority is to do well here. If I am free one day why not, but at the moment my focus is on my job,” Wenger said when asked about the possibility at his press conference for his side’s trip to Burnley on Sunday.
Wenger also spoke about the England job and Allardyce’s exit after the Gunners’ Champions League victory over Basel on Wednesday night.
“It was a huge surprise what happened to Sam Allardyce,” he said. “Who could have predicted that 48 hours ago? Nobody. The game’s always full of surprises. My priority has always been this club and until the end of this season, I’m here. I’m completely focused on that.
“I’ve said many times that my priority has always been Arsenal Football Club and I have to assess how well I do until the end of the season.”
Mauricio Pochettino also made it clear at his press conference on Friday that he would not rule out managing England one day but is committed for the long term to Tottenham Hotspur, with whom he signed a new five-year contract in May.
Asked about managing the English national team, the Argentinian said: “Yes, why not? In the future. Not now, it’s impossible. I signed a new contract here. It’s not my moment.”
Meanwhile, Burnley’s Sean Dyche says he is still too inexperienced to be considered. “You’d want to have a go at the England job, but my CV is not deep enough, I don’t feel, to take that on now,” the 45-year-old manager said. “I could in the sense of ‘go on, I could have a go’ but you want to be in a position in anything in life when you’ve got the depth of knowledge and experience to actually achieve something, not just take it on because you can.
“It’s not that I wouldn’t want to do it ever, because I would somewhere down the line if it ever came my way. But I think you have to have the layers in place to make a success of it. There are other people out there at the moment who are in a better place to take on a challenge like that.”
