Arsene Wenger has claimed that there is a massive passion for __football in Africa and praised the ability of African players. The Arsenal boss was speaking at his pre-match press conference ahead of Sunday’s trip to Burnley.
Arsene Wenger has always been known for his eye for transfer bargains and many of his most successful purchases have been players who aren’t exactly familiar names to most Europeans. A lot of these players came from Africa and today Wenger praised their role in his time as a manager.
“They’ve had a massive impact on my career, yes,” the Arsenal boss said. “I have always used African players since I started in the big leagues. At Monaco I had always African players.
“I like the fact that they are very creative, hugely offensive players with imagination, with pace and power, they combine usually well strength and agility and that’s very difficult to find.
“Overall I think they are usually passionate people. There is a big passion in Africa for the game.
“They are usually very happy on the __football pitch and that’s something fantastic for us.”
Wenger has signed some highly successful players from the continent during his time as Arsenal boss. Emmanuel Adebayor, Lauren, and most recently Mohamed Elneny are just some of the players to play a big role in the Wenger era.
The boss mentioned a couple of others when asked who the most outstanding African player he had managed was. “Kanu had a massive impact here, Kolo Toure. I had George Weah who I gave a start to, he had a massive impact.”
Wenger has undoubtedly had some top quality players from the continent during his time in London and will hopefully find several more in the coming seasons.