Chapter 471: Chapter 126: Advancing to the Final! Wembley, Here We Come! New Contract Signed! Wenger’s Memories!

People won’t have very intense feelings, at most they just feel unfortunate.

But when he truly stands before you, speaking in a place where he once achieved great success, everything feels different.

You can’t help but think about everything that happened to him, and about his fate at this club.

Ma’el still remembers, there were extreme fans at every match holding banners to drive him away, fans parading with ’Wenger out’ signs and setting off smoke bombs.

Applying pressure on him by damaging the Emirates Stadium, the child he loved the most.

Ultimately, under pressure, the upper management dismissed him in 2018, making him leave his most cherished place in the worst possible way.

"Everyone thought it was because of the Emirates Stadium, and it was, but not entirely."

Wenger smiled optimistically, taking out a photo album and handing it to Ma’el, "You can look at these pictures; when we built the stadium, I was full of hope for the future."

Ma’el took the photos and first saw a picture of himself with Henry and Vieira, dressed in work uniforms and wearing hard hats.

The three of them in the photo were smiling brightly, as if there were no worries, only joy and anticipation for the completion of the stadium.

"To build a better fan community, increase the number of club fans and engagement, and allow the club to have higher ticket and merchandise revenue was my purpose in constructing this stadium.

"So, you could simply understand it as I built the stadium to make money for Arsenal, not to throw Arsenal into a debt crisis.

"Look at the second photo, when the stadium was nearing completion, the club’s debt pressure was already quite large, but in my eyes, there was still ambition for the future. I always felt we would become the best club."

In the photo was Wenger with his arms wide open, eyes sharp. By then, he and Arsenal must have already passed their peak and entered years without titles, but he still did not give up hope for the future.

"The new home of Arsenal....."

Wenger also leaned closer to look, seeing the line of text behind, "Haha... at that time, I really thought once the stadium was built, once we moved in, all problems would be solved.

"The club’s financial deficit would disappear, and the shareholders would be more confident in investing in it. We would quickly regain the feels of the old days.

"Unfortunately, it didn’t happen; Kroenke and Usmanov kept stalling, kept stalling, and no one could outmatch the other, nor was anyone willing to compromise.

"One of them owns a huge sports empire, the other has countless monopolized industries. Delaying on Arsenal would actually mean nothing to them, just a matter of fighting to save face.

"But for me, everything is different. I only have Arsenal."

Wenger said this with a slightly bitter smile, "Yes, I have only this team, nothing else."

Ma’el continued to turn the pages and saw a handsome photo of Wenger inside the stadium, full of vitality.

"They kept stalling and didn’t want to invest in the team, so it was up to me to find a way."

Wenger looked at himself in the album, "So, I began to repay loans while using the little remaining money to strengthen the squad, to ensure performance.

"From moving into the new stadium until now, I’ve been doing this; there’s no other way. As long as I’m in this position, I have the responsibility to do so."

He seemed to have finished what he had been holding back for a long time, and after a long sigh, he said: "So, my child, I can’t offer you a million-pound monthly wage like Manchester City, nor a signing bonus of tens of millions of pounds.

"I can’t expect you to understand me, understand the team, but I want to say, please believe in me.

"If you can stay with this team for a while longer, when all the difficulties are over, I will give you the best treatment in the world."

This was indeed an emotional outpouring... Ma’el put down the album, images of Wenger during Arsenal’s peak, during the stadium’s construction, and before he came flashed through his mind.

He stared at the current version of him for a long time, thought about the historical outcome for him at this team.

A strong impulse and emotion surged in his heart, which was to help him, work together with him to create a new legendary Chapter for Arsenal, Wenger, and himself in football!

He had thought about this many times, but never as strongly as today.

"I will stay."

Ma’el smiled and nodded, wanting to reassure Wenger, "Before achieving all the success, I definitely won’t leave.

"No matter how hard it is, I will get through it with this team, with you. I hope we can achieve our desires in the end."

Wenger looked at Ma’el, seeing the determination and ambition in his eyes; he smiled for a long time before saying, "I always feel like heaven won’t let a person fail forever; everyone will find their cure for pain.

"Now, I think I’ve found my cure, it’s just a matter of seeing how fast I can recover."

The two of them laughed together. They completed the signing in the press room afterward, and Ma’el picked up the team’s number 7 jersey, officially becoming the team’s vice-captain.

After signing, the two did not rush home but took a walk on the pitch and sat for a long time on the stands of Highbury Stadium.