Saturday 1 October 2016 01:54, UK
Thierry Henry is doubtful that Arsene Wenger will become England manager, and believes the Arsenal boss is aiming to "finish a job" at the Emirates.
Henry was talking to Rachel Riley and Jeff Stelling on the Friday Night Football sofa when the discussion turned to the vacant England job and whether Wenger was right man to replace the departed Sam Allardyce.
"I just think that Arsene likes to be out on the field on a daily basis and he has a job to do at Arsenal, we all know what it is - finally winning the league," Henry said. "I don't see it happening in all honesty.
"Who would want that job right now? No disrespect, but it's just a very difficult job.
"I remember myself when I was a player, I was looking at all the stories and everything that was coming up and I was like 'wow, do you really want that job'.
"It's a job that you might want because it's your country - obviously not if you're Arsene Wenger - but why would you want that job if you're safe where you are and you're trying to finish a job at Arsenal."
Fellow pundit Jamie Rednapp agreed with Henry that the England job - occupied for such a short time by Allardyce - is a poisoned chalice.
We’d need to get a Buddhist monk probably to manage the English team. That’s the only chance we’ve got.
"Who would want the job after what's happened of late?" Redknapp said. "I think there's a lot of managers now thinking 'no way do I want to touch that job'.
"We'd need to get a Buddhist monk probably to manage the English team. That's the only chance we've got."
Alan Pardew, one of the managers on show on Friday Night Football as his Crystal Palace side travel to Everton, "has got the ego to handle" the job, added Redknapp.
"I mean that in a nice way," the pundit explained. "He's extremely confident."
The Football Association has appointed consecutive English managers to the national team job following the Fabio Capello era.
However, a dearth of quality candidates could see a foreign coach appointed next, and Jamie Carragher believes that domestic managers aren't doing enough to show that they're worthy of the biggest jobs.
"If we're being totally honest, whenever they've got a big job, it hasn't worked, it's failed," the Sky Sports pundit said.
"So you've had Steve McClaren with the England job, Sam Allardyce - it wasn't football, it was off the pitch - Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool, David Moyes at Manchester United.
"Now, they're not getting as many chances as foreign coaches, but when they get the chance they have to take it. Look at Roy Hodgson."
