Former Arsenal midfielder Gilberto Silva is not jumping on the ‘Wenger Out’ bandwagon.
The player was invited to the TV show ‘Resenha ESPN’ this Sunday, and as the channel has big coverage of the Premier League, most of the talk with him was about his time in London.
“This is a question that I have already answered quite a bit,” said the 40-year-old. “Look, it’s interesting, every time this question comes up and you have to talk about someone you’ve lived with. In my case, for six years.
“Someone who changed Arsenal’s history, who put Arsenal on a different level in terms of philosophy and methodology. Where Arsenal were when he arrived, there wasn’t even a proper training centre, and today there’s a great training centre.
“And the moment he is living under pressure is very delicate. There are several fans kind of wanting to kick him out of the club. I find it a little bit ungrateful, in a way, because people forget what he did, where he took the club from and put it on a totally different stage.
“But honestly, on my part, I’d like him to stay. At least for another year. Even if it was a last year, but something planned to value everything he did, all that legacy he’s leaving for the club. In the moment he really leaves, let it be a more big thing to value his work.”
Signed after winning the World Cup in 2002, Gilberto Silva enjoyed a good period at Arsenal, winning the Premier League and two FA Cups.
The ESPN show also asked questions from former teammates, and Edu Gaspar, who played alongside Silva at Arsenal, asked his most memorable moment with the Gunners’ shirt.
Besides thanking Edu for his reception in London, Gilberto’s Silva’s answer couldn’t have been any different: He chose the Invincibles season.
