Emmanuel Petit has compared Arsene Wenger leaving Arsenal to “a divorce” and says his departure has given the Frenchman a “big kick up the a***.”
Wenger spent 22 years with the Gunners, winning three Premier League titles and seven FA Cups, but struggled to challenge for the championship during his final years at the club.
The 69-year-old is refusing to retire as he plans another foray into management with speculation linking him with the manager’s job at Bundesliga side Bayern Munich.
“What happened with Arsenal gave him a big kick up the a***,” Petit told The Sun.
“It was meant to be. It was even a bit too late but I think that was good for him. Now he does not have the security and he has had to take a step back.
“He has to think ‘what was missing, did I do everything right?’ Just like a player after a game. I know him very well and he has done that.
“I’m sure he knows exactly what was wrong. Even when he is almost 70-years-old that will serve him as an experience.
“They needed a change. Even Arsene knows it. He knows that after 20 years at the same club and frustrating years.
“It’s like living with your wife, after a while things are not the same way. It was like a divorce, but it was meant to be.”