Finding Arsene Wenger's eventual replacement at Arsenal will be difficult

Mesut Ozil has played down rumours of a move away from Arsenal to German champions Bayern Munich.

We were eight minutes from the end. In April of this year, Arsenal trailed Wigan in the closing stages of the FA Cup semifinal. In the stands, fans and journalists shook their heads and held their mouths in disbelief. It wasn't just the scoreline -- it was the sheer magnitude of what was unfolding. The unthinkable was happening. Arsene Wenger was on the verge of leaving Arsenal.

The manager's deal was just weeks from expiry. Although he had agreed terms on a proposed three-year extension, he was curiously reluctant to put pen to paper. It seemed he wanted the cup before the contract. He was now perilously close to losing both.

Had Wenger failed to get past Wigan, it was impossible to see how he could continue in his role at the Emirates Stadium. His decision to withdraw Lukas Podolski in the same game had sparked open mutiny among the crowd, who broke into chants of "you don't know what you're doing." Nine years without a trophy threatened to extend to a terrible 10. As the clock ticked down, Wenger stood motionless on the touchline, his paralysis mirroring the lifeless display of his team. And then came Per Mertesacker's diving header, an equaliser, and deliverance.

Arsenal went on to win the semifinal and, in similarly torturous circumstances, the trophy itself. Arsenal partied like it was 2005, and before the month was out Wenger's contract was ratified.

No one was more relieved than the Gunners' chief executive, Ivan Gazidis. Had Wenger gone, he would have faced the biggest challenge of his professional career: replacing him.

However, Gazidis knows he has merely delayed the inevitable. Speaking before this week's AGM (Arsenal's general meeting), he said, "So much of the attention on a football club is around an individual, and that's very understandable at Arsenal because we have a giant who's managing us.

"Wenger has been a fantastic driver and has put the club in a great, great position. The biggest challenge we're going to face as a club is that, when that transition from the legendary French manager to the next coach of our football club happens -- and I don't know when that's going to be -- that we come through that strongly."

Arsene Wenger has had his share of highs and lows during his 18-year tenure at Arsenal, but his stability is something that the club's ownership will miss.

Wenger's current contract expires in the summer of 2017. By that time, he will be 67 years old. Those close to the manager believe there are unlikely to be any further renewals. We are in the twilight of Wenger's Arsenal reign.

There are signs that the club are laying the groundwork for Wenger's eventual abdication. The manager is delineating more responsibility than ever before. Dutchman Andries Jonker has been given complete autonomy over Arsenal's academy structure. Brian McDermott has been appointed to join the club's scouting network. The football side of the club is being staffed with men with experience and expertise. Arsenal is no longer an autocracy.

Still, it's almost impossible to say who might succeed Wenger. The Frenchman has insisted many times that he will not choose his successor. Given the failure of Sir Alex Ferguson's chosen heir at Old Trafford, Arsenal fans will be pleased to hear it. However, at present it is difficult to envisage just how the club would move to fill the void.

Even when Wenger was just moments away from the exit in April, there was no clear backup plan. Wenger is the board's man. He would never and will never be sacked. Come 2017, Gazidis will most likely be attempting to persuade Wenger to postpone his retirement.

Appointing a successor is an enormous task, and it's not clear that anyone on the current board has the expertise or courage to do so. In fraught times, Arsenal fans have serenaded Gazidis with the chant of "What do you do?" When the time comes for him to appoint a new manager, we may well find out.

Wenger talks frequently about the period immediately after moving to the Emirates Stadium as being the toughest in the club's history. However, an equally difficult period may lie ahead. Arsenal coped with the demolishing of Highbury stadium, but when Wenger goes, the foundations of the club will truly have been ripped out. Gazidis already knows he will have to be bold and decisive if he is to steer the club through that inevitably traumatic time.