Arsene Wenger Honoured at Laureus Awards and Even Praised by Mourinho

Legendary former-Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was honoured with a Lifetime Achievement award at the Laureus Sports Awards on Monday, and was even spoken highly of by Jose Mourinho of all people!

A continuation of the heavy amounts of praise Arsene Wenger has received since leaving Arsenal 10 months ago continued on Monday, as he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement award from Laureus for his massive contributions to football. He changed the game forever with his implementations of dietary restrictions in the late 1990’s, along with his tactical philosophies and incorporation of foreign players, which ironically enough, was a foreign idea in England at the time.

Over the course of his career with Arsenal, the Frenchman won 3 Premier League titles, including the infamous ‘invincibles’ title in the 2003-04 unbeaten season. His uccess may have diminished as his career wound down, but the respect for Arsene Wenger stayed the same throughout.

Wenger was always seen as a positive manager with an interesting outlook on life, but one of his biggest and only feuds was an ongoing one with Jose Mourinho, who had 2 stints at Chelsea and 1 at Manchester United during Wenger’s time at Arsenal. The 2 had many heated exchanges over the years, with the pinnacle of the battle coming when Wenger pushed Mourinho on the touchline, and the latter calling the former ‘a specialist in failure’.

Yet, Mourinho praised him in a video tribute for Monday’s award, saying that “the real respect was always there”.

"“He made lots of history in that football club. One of the best football managers in the history of football.” – Jose Mourinho"

Wenger was clearly quite surprised at the comments.

"“It was a surprise, yes. We had some good fights at times.” – Arsene Wenger"

Wenger himself had plenty to say at the ceremony, stating that he was surprised the award went to a manager like himself rather than an ex-player. He also gave a little bit of insight on the dietary restrictions he implemented at Arsenal in his early years.

"“I forbid them eating Mars bars, so at first, I was greeted on the team coach with chants of ‘We want our Mars bars’. They did not get them. Today, it shows how much football has changed – you would never hear footballers demanding Mars bars.”"

The forever-quotable Arsene Wenger has been out of football management for nearly a year now, and seems to be enjoying his time off. Despite this, he constantly reiterates that still very much in love with the game and is certainly not retired. Wenger has been linked to the AC Milan hotseat, the Qatar national team job, and the Director of Football role at PSG, but is still yet to find a permanent role.