Arsene Wenger took time to talk to the press on his first team visit to Nigeria in August. He had this to say


"We have had to compromise on the sporting side, because we had a rational, methodical approach to our pre-season,” the Frenchman told reporters on Friday. “We have sacrificed some of that to go on tour.

“But we are in a race with the other clubs as well. I realized when I was at the World Cup in South Africa how popular a club like Arsenal is in Africa, especially in Nigeria. It is unbelievable.

http:///dvrzte
“I was even frightened at some stage by how popular Arsenal is. In Kenya as well, it is absolutely unbelievable.”
The Gunners coach also confessed that in a summer with a major international tournament - in this case, Euro 2012 - an extended tour creates further problems.

“A tour has advantages and disadvantages, let's be honest," he added.

“The advantage, of course, is to get in touch with your fan base in Asia - when you travel out there you realise how big the Premier League is and how big your club is over there.

“We are looking forward to doing it again, but unfortunately in the European Championship years or the World Cup years, on the purely sports side you suffer a bit more because your players have just come back and have to travel again, so the preparation time will be short for them.

“But on purely fan-base it is very exciting.”
Arsenal’s chief commercial officer Tom Fox acknowledged that the travelling was inconvenient, but stressed his belief that the club can benefit hugely.

“We do not take these decisions lightly at all,” the American said.

“We understand from a training perspective it is not ideal, and the pressure we feel that when we do something as disruptive as taking Arsene's preparation on the road, we need to make sure we get the most out of that.

“We feel that responsibility acutely within this club. We are not just flying people around because we think there may be opportunities.

“We have tried to be very purposeful about it because we completely understand it is a very disruptive thing to do.

“So we are going to do everything we can to make sure we get everything we can from these visits and games.”

culled from GOAL.com

Asked about the 35-year-old,Kanu Nwankwo, Wenger admitted he was full of respect for the striker.

"I like Kanu because he was not only a great player, but also very brave," he said. "He was a great representative of Nigeria because he was a player that everybody rates and a man that everybody loves in England.

"He never complained, you could kick him everywhere and he never said a word. He was very brave and I have a big respect for him. Then he created his heart foundation, and that was great as well - he does a good job with that.

"He loves football because when you have his knees and you still play today, you must be brave, believe me!"

http:///dvrzte

shut up wenger. kanu is great and how did u threat him? abeg come to nigeria and do ur business and get away. we have a mikel obi and osaze who are doing well at their respective epl teams.