The Arsenal manager had been linked with the England job before Sam Allardyce’s appointment.
The FA’s Technical Director Dan Ashworth has insisted to talkSPORT that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was not first choice for the England job.
Sam Allardyce was confirmed as the new Three Lions boss on Friday after weeks of speculation about the position.
The national side had been in search of their new manager after Roy Hodgson resigned following the country’s poor showing at Euro 2016.
Several names were linked with the role, with Wenger rumoured to have been towards the top of the list of possible targets.
Ashworth though insists that Wenger was never first choice and the job was only ever offered to Allardyce.
“No. We only offered the job to one person and we offered the job to Sam Allardyce obviously,” he told talkSPORT, when asked if Wenger was the man the FA truly wanted.
“There were a lot of rumours about who was favourite and who wasn’t. In fact, I think there was a different favourite every day for a period of time but that was not the case at all.”
It now remains to be seen whether Allardyce can be a hit with England, starting with qualification for the World Cup.
He will be determined to make a success of his chance, having had to wait for it for a number of years.
The first major thing he will surely look to improve is the current confidence in the squad, which will be at an all time low after the dismal effort they showed in France this summer.
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