Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is being linked with Erol Bulut’s position at Fenerbahce.
Bulut is under pressure at Fener as they battle through a poor run of results.
And BILD says Fener are considering removing Bulut and replacing him with a more experienced name.
Wenger has been discussed, along with Fener icon Christoph Daum. Istanbul BB coach Okan Buruk is also being linked with the job.
Should Wenger agree to the move, it would mean a reunion with former Gunners midfielder Mesut Ozil.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger hailed the talent of Mesut Ozil after he secured a move away from the club.
Ozil has been sidelined by Gunners boss Mikel Arteta practically since his arrival midway through last season.
He was unable to reach a financial agreement with the club for a departure, until now. Ozil is set to sign for Fenerbahce in Turkey.
“Well first of all I would say you have the pleasure to announce a transfer like that in a period where you will not have many transfers,” he told BeIN SPORTS Turkey.
“And he will certainly be the biggest transfer of the January transfer window, because the world of football is a bit quiet.
“But overall it’s fantastic news for Fenerbahce, who are in a strong position in the league, and I think he can be the piece of the puzzle that will make them even more of a threat to win the Turkish league.”
Wenger continued: “I had never had a conversation [with him] about Fenerbahce before because I wanted to keep Mesut Ozil at Arsenal!
“But I could always feel a strong Turkish link because I met the family, I met his agent, I met his father when I signed him.
“You could see that there is a strong attachment to Turkey and a big interest in the Turkish league.”
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he’d be willing to return to the club if needed.
Wenger has said he would return to the club.
With Arsenal sat in 13th place under former player Mikel Arteta, Wenger was asked whether he would return to Arsenal to save the day.
Wenger told NBC Sports: “If I’m needed, I will help them, but I don’t expect that, no.”
The Frenchman lead Arsenal to three Premier League titles, seven FA Cups, and seven community shields.
Arsenal outcast Mesut Ozil says many at the club are missing former manager Arsene Wenger.
Gunners boss Mikel Arteta has failed to register Ozil for both the Premier League and Europa League this season.
Asked whether he considers Wenger a father figure during a Twitter Q&A, Ozil responded: “He was really a fantastic manager – yeah, and also like a father figure for me and many other players…
“I think many people around Arsenal are really missing him.”
Wenger was one of the key reasons Ozil opted to leave Real Madrid for Arsenal seven-and-a-half years ago in a £42.5million deadline-day transfer.
Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has confessed he regrets not re-signing Nicolas Anelka.
The French striker had a spell with the Gunners between 1996-99 before moving on to Real Madrid, but he became available again in 2008 while at Bolton Wanderers.
At that time Arsenal were struggling up front following injuries to the likes of Eduardo and Robin van Persie, and Wenger considered a swoop for Anelka.
In the end nothing materialised, however, and Anelka went on to join Chelsea, where he scored 59 goals over five seasons and won a Premier League and two FA Cups.
On The Tuesday Club podcast, Wenger said, “Maybe (it was the wrong decision)!
“He wanted to come back. Maybe it was a mistake.
“I wanted to give the signal to the players that once you left the club there is no way back.
“I felt that they would then have a hesitation to leave. I didn’t give them the feeling of ‘ok I go somewhere else, I try it and if it doesn’t work I come back’.
“That’s why I didn’t do it and overall maybe I should have done it. Nicolas still scored in 125 games overall in the Premier League I think, something like that, so he could have helped us.”
Arsene Wenger has hit out at Arsenal’s board and the fans for the way he was treated during his final season in charge.
Arsenal’s failure to challenge for top honours in Wenger’s latter days seemingly angered Arsenal fans, with a section of supporters very vocal in calling for the Frenchman’s departure.
He told the Guardian: “The hostility of a section of the fans and the board was unjustified.
“I felt as if I’d built the training centre and the stadium myself brick by brick… it was very hard, very brutal.
“Arsenal was a matter of life and death to me, and without it there were some very lonely, very painful moments.”
Asked whether he felt his job was a matter of life and death, he said: “Yes, it was my approach to the job.
“When you drive home after a defeat, and you think about the number of people who are destroyed, you have a sense of responsibility, of guilt.
“I believe there is no other way for a manager than to identify completely with the club, and to behave like he owns it.”
Former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admits he may’ve stayed in the job too long.
Wenger left the Gunners in 2018 after a 22-year spell in charge which returned three Premier League titles, seven FA Cups, a Champions League final appearance and a new stadium.
“Maybe I stayed too long,” he told The Times. “I don’t know. But I was committed like on the first day.
“I think I guided the club through the most difficult period in a very successful way.
“At some stage people say you’re too old, but they don’t really look at what you do. I served the club as much as I could.
“The supporters were not happy any more. Some of them. You can understand that, at some stage, 22 years, people want a change.”
Wenger admits he wasn’t offered an board role at the club.
He said: “I don’t know (why he was not offered a place on the board). I always said I would still play a part in the club, but I could understand that at the start it’s better that we take a complete distance.
“It was difficult at the start, of course, after leading my club as long as I did, but I thought it’s better to follow from a distance.”
Former Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger has described Barcelona forward Lionel Messi as a complete player who though constantly desires to score but recognises when to allow others do the finishing.
Wenger who has been out of job since quitting Arsenal last year after 22 years at the Emirates, was reacting to misunderstanding between Liverpool duo of Sadio Mane and Mohammed Salah after their 3-0 defeat of Burnley last weekend.
Salah was involved in a spat with team-mate Sadio Mane in the Reds’ 3-0 win at Burnley, with the Senegal forward furious at his Egyptian team-mate for failing to pass the ball to him to apply a simple tap-in late on.
Mane was substituted moments later and could not hide his anger over the incident on the touchline as he departed the field.
Wenger while describing the two feuding players as great players nonetheless criticised Salah for being too selfish in attack.
The former AS Monaco handler said though the Egypt international has the abilities of Barcelona forward Lionel Messi, he unlike Messi, insists on doing the finishing at all times.
‘He [Salah] has similarities with Messi,’ Wenger told beIN Sports. ‘He must find the consistency of Messi.
‘I find he’s a good finisher but Messi has the complete thing, he gives the final ball as well. ‘Salah is a bit obsessed with finishing himself.
‘That’s a dimension he’ll get certainly, when he grows a little bit older, to find the moment when you have to give the ball and when you have to finish. ‘But I like him very much, he has huge potential. Mane as well,” he submitted
Liverpool who have won all their premier league matches played so far in the new season will next host Newcastle in a tie they have been tipped to win to make it five wins in five matches.
Arsene Wenger has promised he will be back in football management at the start of 2019, but the Frenchman does not yet know at which club.
The 69-year-old veteran boss ended his 22-year reign at Premier League side Arsenal at the end of last season but insisted at the time he was not yet finished with football.
Asked when he would be back in management, Wenger told Sky Sports on Wednesday: “At the beginning of the year.
“It will seem odd to go somewhere else but I can’t tell you (where) because I don’t know where I’ll be. I’ll be somewhere — but I don’t know where.
“I have had a good rest and watched football a lot. I have many good memories, so I miss them.”
Meanwhile Wenger, whose final seasons in charge of Arsenal saw the once mighty Gunners struggling to contend for the English title, was pleased by the North London giants’ start to this season.
Under new manager Unai Emery, Arsenal are currently fourth in the table, just four points behind Premier League leaders and reigning champions Manchester City, despite losing their first two league games this term.
“When Arsenal win I am happy,” said Wenger. “I felt I worked very hard and I think I left it (the club) in good shape.
“After that, I’m a supporter like anyone else — I want them to win football games.”
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was “disrespectful” by talking publicly about Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, say Borussia Dortmund.
The Gunners are interested in signing the £60m-rated Gabon forward, who has been left out of his side’s trip to Hertha Berlin on Friday night.
On Thursday, Wenger said Aubameyang would “fit in” at Arsenal.
“We regard it as disrespectful that Arsene Wenger expresses himself about players of other clubs,” said the club.
Sporting director Michael Zorc added: “There is no contact on our part with Arsenal. Arsene Wenger certainly has enough currently to deal with the performance of his own players.”
Zorc added that Aubameyang would miss the Friday’s game because “he is not fully focused and the question arises whether he can help us in Berlin.”
Aubameyang has been suspended twice for disciplinary reasons this season.
He missed Sunday’s 0-0 draw with Wolfsburg after he failed to attend a team meeting.
The 28-year-old is Dortmund’s top scorer this season with 13 goals from 15 games.
Dortmund are fourth in the Bundesliga, 15 points behind leaders Bayern Munich. They play at Hertha Berlin on Friday.
BBC Sports