Arsene Wenger has pinpointed his ideal candidate to succeed him at Arsenal when his time is up, Dragan Stojkovic…but who is he?
Speaking to the Serbian media, Wenger confirmed that he and Stojkovic, who is currently in charge of Nagoya Grampus Eight (the Frenchman’s former club before moving to Arsenal) are very close friends.
Stojkovic was signed by Wenger as a player when the Frenchman was in charge of the Japanese club. In January 2008, the Serbian was appointed as manager of Nagoya, and in 2010 guided his side to a J. League Division 1 title and was also named J. League Manager of the Year as well.
Wenger has kept in close contact with the 45-year-old, who admitted that he and Stojkovic have the identical philosophy when it comes to football. The Frenchman told Serbian publication Vecernje Novosti:
‘I’d love Piksi [Stojkovic’s nickname] to be my successor. There are a hundred reasons for that. His football philosophy is almost identical to mine. Our ideas are the same and we both strive for perfect football.’
‘I knew he was going to have his teams playing attacking football with many passes. He has done that, showing he will be a great coach. I told him that if he could transmit his football imagination to his players he would fly high.’
Wenger also revealed that the Serbian is a regular visitor to England:
‘Dragan comes to London at least once a year. We meet up, chat and try to outsmart each other.’
To be honest with you, when I first heard (and read) that Wenger named Stojkovic as his potential successor I asked myself ‘who the hell is this guy’, and I’m sure a lot of you reading this probably did the same.
Having looked up Dragan Stojkovic on the net, I know now that he was an ex-footballer and of course the current manager of Nagoya. In his 20 year spell as a professional player, Stojkovic managed to play for five clubs, these being, FK Radnicki Nis, Red Star Belgrade, Marseille, Hellas Verona (loan), and finally Nagoya Grampus Eight. He was also capped 84 times, scoring 15 goals for both SFR Yugoslavia national team and the FR Yugoslavia national team.
Managerial wise, Dragan Stojkovic will not be known by many, as he is learning his trade in the Far East. However, if Arsene Wenger himself pinpointed the man as his possible successor then he can’t be that bad a manager…can he?
in my opinion, I think this is years away from actually ensuing, but with that being said, one must wonder, if Wenger is in fact short-listing successors now then maybe it will occur sooner rather than later.
Be apart of the Rep. Ireland v Wales game tomorrow @ 19:45 – Try your luck at winning some real cash on PICKLIVE
Click on the image below to get involved
Follow me on Twitter – http://twitter.com/Gunnersphere
Visit and Join our Facebook page, click HERE to do so
I don’t really know too much about this manager but I’m sure he must be decent if Wenger is pin pointing him to be his successor. Personally I hope he is up for the job when the time does come when Wenger steps down, if not then I’m sure Arsenal will find someone else to fill his boots.