After years of "reverence": Wenger "tarnishes" his reputation because of Infantino | Goal.com
Arsène Wenger's silence over the failed World Cup sales scheme jars with the days when the former Arsenal manager railed against the corrupting influence of money on the game, according to British newspaper "The Telegraph".
Senior advisers, chief operating officers and even US President Donald Trump have all distanced themselves to varying degrees from the beleaguered Swiss official, the paper reported today, Sunday. Wenger's views remain a mystery.
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Recovering from the gruelling World Cup schedule, Wenger, 76, is under no obligation to speak out against his boss. But this is precisely his field of expertise. Fair or not, outside observers will link his position to the nature of the failed scheme and question how likely he was to be involved in it.
Silence does not mean complicity, of course. Yet Wenger's presence alongside Infantino lends the FIFA president legitimacy. That has been the case since November 2019, when FIFA announced Wenger's appointment with a photograph of the two men shaking hands and smiling for the camera, according to "The Telegraph".
When Infantino celebrated 10 years at the helm of FIFA, Wenger praised him as a man "always ready to move forward and create new ideas". During the World Cup, cameras repeatedly caught him sitting behind Infantino at matches or shaking his hand in the stands.
For those who revered Wenger during his time at Arsenal, his ties to FIFA in recent years have been hard to digest. They become harder still now, with Infantino's presidency reaching new levels of toxicity.
Once cast by supporters as a moral compass and loyal guardian of the game, Wenger has become closely associated with those chasing financial gain at the sport's expense, the paper added.
It signed off with a question: will Wenger stay on this side of the fence, loyal to Infantino? Or will he too make it clear that this was a step too far? Much of his reputation, already tainted by that relationship, may now hinge on the direction he takes.
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