EXCLUSIVE | ‘Arsenal won’t want to unbalance squad’ – Philippe Senderos reflects on aftermath of Champions League final

Retired Arsenal centre-back Philippe Senderos sat down with Get French Football News to reflect on his former side’s defeat in the UEFA Champions League final to Paris Saint-Germain. 

After winning the Champions League two times in a row, will we look back on this PSG side and talk about them in the same breath as Sacchi’s Milan or Guardiola’s Barcelona?

I think what the ownership, the Qataris, Luis Campos, and Luis Enrique have done over the last few seasons is really tremendous. They went away from the big stars at Paris Saint-Germain and gave the reins to Luis Enrique, who said, ‘If you give me this power, I will do something special with it.’ And they backed him. They gave him young players, and what they’ve been able to achieve over the last couple of seasons has been fantastic. I think this is the beginning of a new era for Paris Saint-Germain. Winning two Champions Leagues takes them to a different level, and Luis Enrique is always ahead of the curve. He knows he’s got a very young squad. I think it has an average age of 24 years, and he can [keep going] for more and more years. He’s relentless as a coach, and he will not stop there and will continue to put the pressure [on them] and the will to win the third one at least. 

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What does it mean for Arsenal to come so close to winning the Champions League and fall at the final hurdle?

This season has been really, really important for Arsenal to get back to winning the title. That’s what, if you asked at the beginning of the season, every Arsenal fan would have wanted. 22 years [since the last time they won the Premier League] was a very long time. Winning the league would have been the top priority, winning the Champions League would have been historical, and it would have been the cherry on top of the cake. But [this season] gives Arsenal the power and the confidence to think that they can do it. They were semi-finalists last season, and they were finalists this year. They went unbeaten in Europe, apart from the final, it was a tremendous season from this Arsenal squad, and they will take some confidence from this to go on to the next one. 

Is there anything that this squad is missing that would have taken them over the line? I know Arteta mentioned adding extra quality in the summer.

I’m sure they will. Andrea Berta, the sporting director, did that last season. They added a lot of depth, and I think that was really necessary. Over the last few seasons, we all thought that to get over the line and get that title, you would need a few more players of quality and depth. And we saw it right until the end. You had some key players missing, and you always had a replacement, and they will continue to evolve. Mikel Arteta has evolved over the last few years, and he knows the strengths of the squad and will want to add a little bit. And I think the next layer would be to try and control the games, the tempo of the games with the ball, as opposed to sometimes just sitting back. To have the option to do it as well with the ball without being too open and too exposed, and I think they can do that. I think they have a lot of quality in the squad, and if they do add a couple more players, it’ll be a very, very strong squad. 

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Where do you think they would be looking to improve in their squad?

It’s difficult to say. I’m sure they’ve been working on it for the last few months, and Andrea Berta will be on it. There are some players who have run their course, probably, and will be moving on. And others will come with a fresher spirit. This is an important moment for Arsenal; they don’t want to unbalance the squad either. Now that you’ve won the league, you need to keep your strong core and make sure that you add quality in certain areas which are necessary. 

With Pep Guardiola gone and other rivals in transition, do you think this is the start of a new golden era for Arsenal?

You would hope so. They’ve worked at it, and they came up short a couple of years before they could win it. Hopefully, they can repeat and do it again next season. This is one of the most competitive leagues in the world, and it will be very difficult as everyone is investing massively. If they can do it again like they did this year, and start every game with the right mentality as they had then, why not? I think there is some momentum around Arsenal now, and they believe that they can do it. 

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Talking about the other rivals, which teams do you think will be there in the title race?

Manchester United will get better, I’m sure. They’ve been more consistent with Michael Carrick and they’ve been able to have a very strong run in the second part of the season. Manchester City will be there because they have quality players. We don’t know yet who the manager will be. I expect more from Chelsea. They have a very young squad, but very talented. And Liverpool, probably with a new wind and new manager coming in, it will be interesting to see how they progress. 

Philippe Senderos was speaking exclusively to GFFN on behalf of NewBettingSites.uk.

GFFN | Nick Hartland