Arsene Wenger phoned me soon after hardest day of my Arsenal career – neither of us had anything to say
FORMER Arsenal star Gilles Grimandi has lifted the lid on his time at the club.
The versatile Frenchman made 169 appearances for the Gunners from 1997 to 2002.
He won two Premier League titles and two FA Cups under Arsene Wenger before he retired.
After hanging up his boots, Grimandi worked as an Arsenal scout for 13 years until he quit soon after the legendary boss stepped down.
The 53-year-old revealed he regularly spoke to Wenger about his team’s performance and about players during his time as talent spotter.
Grimandi claims that bad results would heavily impact the manager and he would often use his former player as a shoulder to cry on.
He exclusively told Ladbrokes’ Fanzone: “I had direct access to the manager and it certainly wasn’t an easy job for me.
“I would speak a lot with Arsene, especially after games. That, in itself, was difficult at times because when we had a bad result on a Saturday or Sunday, I knew that he’d be calling me on the Monday morning to talk about it.
“That was a nightmare because I knew everything was going to be negative.
“Bad results used to affect Arsene a lot – I don’t think people can even imagine how hard it was for him to deal with it sometimes.
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“He wouldn’t sleep if the team performed badly and so my job was to try and find the right thing to say to him to make him feel better.”
Grimandi says his worst days at the club was when he was a transfer chief rather than a player.
And he remembers one tough meeting with a heartbroken Wenger, saying: “The hardest day came after the Newcastle game in 2011. Arsenal were 4-0 up but that finished 4-4.
“The manager gives you a call the next day and neither of you have anything to say. It’s a nightmare.
“Before you pick up the phone in those moments, you’re just panicking. What can you say?
“In that game against Newcastle, for example, I knew that whatever I was saying to him on the phone, he was not listening.
“But he just wanted to talk with someone who was a little further out of the club and wasn’t too involved with the team.
”I spent so many years playing for and working with Arsene and I was always so impressed with his knowledge of everything to do with the club.
“Seeing him struggle to deal with bad performances was one thing, but on the other side, watching him at work, he would be able to tell you exactly what is going on.
“Who is performing well outside of the club, who to keep an eye on, who played in this game, who scored that goal… it’s unbelievable how deep Arsenal is inside Arsene.
“I knew the manager so well and so when it came to my role as a scout, I knew that when I presented Arsene with a name, he was going to like the player, because I knew what he was looking for. ”
As a player finder, Grimandi says he is most proud of alerting the club to Bacary Sagna, who would go on to make 284 appearances.
His biggest regret is failing to do enough to convince a 14-year-old Kylian Mbappe to join Arsenal.