Arsene Wenger has never really shown much interest in packing in the day-to-day duties of club management for a more sedate life as a national team manager but he has admitted in the past that he would like to manage at the World Cup.

“Maybe, yes, I will do it at some stage but until now I like to be involved every day in the life of a club because the real test is there. Four or five weeks is a different experience, it’s more concentrated, but I believe the real experience of managing a team is on a daily basis,” Wenger said in November 2017 when asked about the possibility of moving into international management.

“I will [always] be in football. I don’t know [if] as a director, as a manager – as long as possible as a manager. But one day that will stop. But I will stay in football, of course.”

Didier Deschamps guided France to the World Cup in Russia this summer with a wealth of talent at his disposal. Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, Antoine Griezmann, and Kylian Mbappé were just some of the names he had at his disposal.

Deschamps has won more matches for France than any other manager but with Arsene Wenger available, it’s not hard to imagine the FFF pushing for the former Arsenal manager once again sooner rather than later, despite Deschamps’ success.

So would Wenger like to manage France at Qatar in 2022? “Maybe, you never know,” he said.

Of course, he couldn’t do that if he decides to…