ARSENE Wenger attended Cliftonville’s 2-1 away win over Crusaders in the quarter-finals of the Irish Cup on Saturday.
The extremely random link-up was commemorated by the victors tweeting the below image of him at Seaview.
He still looks remarkably well for 75[/caption]
The club also posted this image of manager Jim Magilton with the caption ‘Enjoy the one boss?’[/caption]
Since Cliftonville have a colour scheme similar to Wenger’s beloved Arsenal, the accompanying caption read: “A man who always loves to see the Reds win.”
Supporters naturally had a lot of fun over their A-list attendee too.
One person quipped: “I heard Arsene Wenger was there taking a few lessons from Jim today.”
Unfortunately for Wenger and anyone else with an affiliation towards the Gunners, their side haven’t provided them with too many reasons to be cheerful of late.
Their costly first home loss of the Premier League season to West Ham effectively ended their pursuit of Liverpool in the title race.
As a result of another so near yet so far campaign, it is set to be a busy summer of transfer activity with moves for a striker, midfielder and goalkeeper all being worked on.
Mikel Arteta‘s side trail the Merseysiders by 13 points after another stumble in their 0-0 draw against Nottingham Forest.
After three years of playing second fiddle to Manchester City and now Liverpool, they are set to invest heavily in a new forward or two this summer.
The Athletic’s David Ornstein reports two big names in the attacking department.
The first is Newcastle’s Alexander Isak, who Arteta “loves”, while the other is Benjamin Sesko, who Arsenal are said to have done a lot of work on to complete a deal.
Ornstein reports how Arsenal are in a strong financial position with PSR.
However, with other plans to bring in midfielder Martin Zubimendi and a new back-up goalkeeper, a major departure may be needed to ensure this PSR position is not compromised.
Ornstein also spoke about the influence of Arteta in the transfer process and how his voice impacted the recent January window.
He explained that while Arteta was a hugely influential voice and wanted to sign Ollie Watkins from Aston Villa, he does not control the purse strings at the Emirates.
Mathys Tel, who eventually signed on loan for Tottenham, was discussed internally but was not pursued as the club wanted a natural No9.
Arsenal suffered a huge blow to their title bid just days after the transfer window closed when Kai Havertz picked up a season-ending injury during the club’s warm-weather training camp in Dubai.
The club have failed to score in both of their last two games, which has all but ended their hopes of winning the title barring a miraculous comeback.