Ex-Arsenal player, Alexander Hleb has come out to talk about his relationship with Arsene Wenger while they were both at the Emirates stadium.
Hleb revealed that the French manager actually made him feel like he had grown wings on his back as a player.
According to him, it is currently very hard to imagine Arsenal without Wenger because the 2 will always go together.
He added that he was overwhelmed with emotions, eagerness, and a desire to live up to expectations of his coach because they had an excellent player-manager relationship.
His words, “It’s hard for me to imagine Arsenal without Wenger because to me Wenger is Arsenal and Arsenal is Wenger,”
“When Wenger was signing me, he just wanted me to adapt as quickly as possible and to have fun with the game, to do whatever it takes for the team, for results. I felt his support.
“Once I got injured, spent two months off the field, and it was hard to regain the flow, so I started having doubts about possibly returning to Germany.
“He just told me a couple of words which ended up having such a strong impact on me.
“I felt like I’d grown wings on my back. I was overwhelmed with emotions, eagerness, desire to live up to expectations.”
Wenger also said on Hleb, “He was a guy you’d want to make happy,”
“Sometimes it seemed like something had cracked inside him, and I felt like I was responsible for helping him, for supporting his talent.
“You see, being a manager allows you to influence people’s lives, which is great, you can influence them positively, not negatively.
“And I felt that he needed warmth and understanding to realise his talent.”
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