LENS, France -- Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says Sam Allardyce has the needed qualities to lead England to World Cup success in Russia but deflected questions about whether he was offered the Three Lions job himself.
Allardyce was confirmed as the new England coach on Friday, taking over from Roy Hodgson who resigned following the team's loss to Iceland at Euro 2016. Wenger's name had been frequently mentioned among the candidates for the position and the Telegraph reported on Thursday that the Frenchman had turned down the opportunity.
When asked about the appointment, Wenger said Allardyce has "my full support."
"I wish him well. Now he can focus on winning the next World Cup. I believe there are many ingredients in England to do well," Wenger said. "He has a capacity to get the best out of teams. And they are always difficult to beat yes, because they are always well organised. ... The team was a bit young to win the European Championship. In two years if they stay together they have a better chance. And he [Allardyce] has the experience to help them to get into a better position in Russia."
Wenger has just one year left on his contract at Arsenal and there had been speculation that the FA would sound out his interest in taking over England next summer. But the 66-year-old Wenger stayed coy about whether he had held talks with the FA bosses.
"I would not like to talk about all the talks the FA had. But I was focused [on Arsenal] anyway, I always said I respect my contracts and that's what I did," said Wenger, who also deflected a question about whether he might still consider the job one day.
"Let's first [focus on] the guy who is now in charge, we want to be behind him and not talk about me managing England. That would be unfair," Wenger said. "He has my full support. No matter who manages England he has my full support. It's my second country. ... I feel there is something there for this team to come out. They had some good patches during the Euro, but just on that cruel day against Iceland they couldn't turn up. But overall you feel there is some quality in the team."
And Wenger is also among those who are glad to see another Englishman get the job, instead of the FA turning to a foreign manager.
"I said in the past many times that for me it's more comfortable if it's a guy from that country who manages the national team," the Gunners boss said. "Why? Because it represents the culture of a country, and it's the national team so it looks to me natural that it's a candidate from the country."