Boardroom battles, transfer tug-of-war and those embarrassing empty seats all forced Wenger to quit Arsenal before he was pushed as players are moved to tears after he broke the 'bad news'

 

Arsene Wenger left Arsenal players in tears yesterday after announcing that he will finally step down as manager at the end of the season after 22 years in charge. 

The 68-year-old Frenchman, who joined Arsenal from Nagoya Grampus Eight all the way back in 1996, stunned players and staff by telling them about his departure completely out of the blue at the club's London Colney training base.

He introduced the sudden revelation by telling them 'I have bad news for you – I’m leaving the club at the end of the season.' The squad were left crying, with the players looking at each other and having no idea what to say.

Captain Per Mertesacker stood up and then gave a speech before nothing else was said. After Wenger left the only noise was chairs scraping, with players leaving in shock.