Arsene Wenger Talks Arsenal Commitment Amid Real Madrid, Barcelona, City Rumours

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed he was approached by a variety of top clubs during a "difficult" period with the Gunners but turned them down to ensure stability at the north London club.

Per Dominic Fifield in the Guardian, the clubs in question are thought to be Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City, but Wenger explained he made a commitment to stay on at Arsenal as they paid back the debt accrued from the building of the Emirates Stadium in 2006:

"When we built the stadium the banks demanded I signed for five years. I did it. Do you want me to tell you how many clubs I turned down during that period? I have shown I am committed."

Fifield added that Real reportedly approached Wenger in 2009 and 2010, while offers from Barca and City also came at that time.

Wenger has faced increasing criticism this season from fans and commentators as Arsenal have yet again failed to maintain a genuine title challenge in the Premier League and went out of the UEFA Champions League at the last-16 stage for the sixth year running.

A protest against the Gunners hierarchy is being prepared for their clash with Norwich City on Saturday at the Emirates with supporters group The Black Scarf Movement bemoaning "a complacent board" and "a manager who seems to be past his best."

Wenger, 66, believes he does not deserve such treatment after more than 20 years at the club and gave examples of how he has remained loyal to Arsenal over time and maintained a high level of performance, per Taylor:

"

The banks wanted the technical consistency to guarantee we had a chance to pay back [the loan]. I did commit and I stayed, under very difficult circumstances. So for me to find [his critics] are reproaching me for not winning the championship during that period I think is a bit overboard. I accept criticism but I think that it is a bit too far.

When we built the stadium, we knew we’d have five to seven difficult financial years where we had to pay the money back: we had to be three years in the Champions League out of five and have an average of 54,000 people [to meet costs], and we didn’t know we would be capable of that. We had to sell our best players every year to survive but we didn’t do three years out of five in the Champions League. We did five out of five. Now the club is in a stronger position and we can compete again with our main opponents.

"

From being top of the Premier League table at the turn of the year, Arsenal are now 12 points back from leaders Leicester City and in danger of dropping out of the top four—Manchester United are five points back in fifth with a game in hand.

While Bleacher Report's Sam Tighe is confident the Gunners will keep their top-four spot and qualify again for next term's Champions League, Arsenal's performances in the second half of the season have been poor:

Six Premier League wins from 16 matches in 2016 is an unacceptable return for a side of Arsenal's quality, especially in a season when the perennial title challengers—City, United and Chelsea—have been well off the pace.

Wenger went as far to suggest ahead of the Norwich match that a "difficult climate" at the Emirates has been a factor in Arsenal's poor home form this season—and in turn has affected their title chances—per Sky Sports' Stephen Turner.

The Times' Henry Winter indicated that the Frenchman was barking up the wrong tree in assessing Arsenal's poor form:

It is clear that the pressure on Wenger is mounting at the Emirates. He has done great things with Arsenal and has every right to make his case for why he does not deserve such criticism.

However, with his last league title win coming in 2004 and Arsenal's European performance underwhelming in recent years, the fans are clearly becoming restless and are set to demand change this weekend.