Arsenal fans may not be all that aware of Dragan Stojkovic but they would have been if Arsene Wenger’s dream had played out.
The Gunners were always bound to go through some hard times after the Arsene Wenger era.
Unai Emery didn’t last as long as planned and Mikel Arteta has been under huge pressure at times.
It’s all going well for Arsenal now but it would have been somebody rather left-field in charge had Wenger got his way.
Wenger wanted Serbia boss Dragan Stojkovic at Arsenal
Back in 2011, Wenger named Dragan Stojkovic as the man he wanted to replace him at Arsenal.
Wenger noted there were a ‘hundred reasons’ for that stance, believing that Stojkovic wanted to play ‘attacking’ and ‘perfect’ football.
The pair went way back even if Arsenal fans may have wondered who on earth Wenger was talking about.
Stojkovic played under Wenger for Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan back in the 1990’s and ended up emulating Wenger by becoming Nagoya boss in 2008.
Stojkovic won over half of his games in that job and claimed one league title, ultimately never quiet making it onto Arsenal’s radar.
The Serbian was managing in China with Guangzhou R&F when Wenger left Arsenal and the call from North London never came.
Stojkovic now finds himself in charge of the Serbian national team though and is ready for a big day.
Serbia take on Brazil at the World Cup tonight and will be looking to spring a surprise on the tournament favourites.
Stojkovic has been incredible in this job, winning 14 of his 21 games in charge whilst losing just three times.
Serbia came through their qualifying group top of the tree, even ahead of Portugal, leading to them being touted as a dark horse in Qatar.
Wenger saw real quality in Stojkovic as a manager and whilst it’s unlikely that he will ever manage Arsenal now, he has a chance to show his quality on the global stage.
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