It is difficult to imagine where Arsenal would have now been had the Highbury board decided against the appointment of a then unheralded French coach during the autumn of 1996.
"Arsene Who?" was the headline which greeted the Gunners' new boss.
Little did anyone know the impact the man nicknamed 'Le Professeur' would have on the north London club and indeed English top-flight football over the next 20 years.
Wenger may turn 67 on October 22, but his hunger for success burns just as fierce now as it did when he first walked into the Marble Halls of N5 a generation ago.
While Wenger's Arsenal legacy is already secure having guided his teams on to three Premier League titles - including the famous Invincibles campaign of 2003/2004 - along with the FA Cup four times and leading his side to the 2006 Champions League final, it has, of course, not always been an easy ride.
Often seen to hold a unique privileged position within the English game, Wenger found both himself and his ideology under scrutiny on and off the field when the squad endured a period of transition following the move to the impressive 60,000-seater new home at Ashburton Grove - into which he had so much influence and where a bronze bust of the Frenchman now stands alongside fellow inspirational manager Herbert Chapman.
With a master's degree in economics from Strasbourg University, Wenger was continually derided for treating the club's bank accounts as if they were his own, aiming to build a team rather than simply buying his way to sustained success which seems the modern trend.
Yet as he heads into what could well be the final season of his tenure, although talk of another contract extension remains ever on the horizon, Wenger cannot be accused of being afraid to spend, having seen Switzerland international Granit Xhaka, German defender Shkodran Mustafi and Spanish forward Lucas Perez take his summer investment close to £90million.
While most other men in their late sixties are contemplating more time with the family and pruning the roses, Wenger's focus remains on making sure when he eventually calls it a day, the man who follows him will inherit a club ready to become the power brokers of England's elite once more.
The key question, as always though, continues to be can Wenger finally deliver another title?
There are those who would argue he already should have, most notably last season when traditional rivals all faltered as Leicester pulled off the greatest shock of the Premier League era.
While few would have predicted Wenger to last the distance in an era when rival clubs opted for a change of direction or a quick fix, the list of managers whom the Arsenal boss has come up against and then waved goodbye from Tottenham to Chelsea, and more recently at Manchester United as well as Manchester City, is an impressive read.
So knowing then what he does now, with all the battles ahead, both on and off the pitch, would Wenger have followed up on the invite from good friend David Dein to leave Nagoya Grampus Eight in Japan, where to this day he is held in the highest regard?
"I must say the first years of my career here was quite easy, from '96 to 2005, when it was a period where it all went really easy, smooth and well. We were always dominating, mostly in league or the FA Cup. Then came the second period when we moved into this stadium," Wenger recalled.
"It was much more difficult because we faced more competition and because we were under restricted finances.
"The target was to stay at the top of the league and to qualify for Champions League every season to repay our debt back. We did it. Sometimes within a sceptical environment, and most of the time having to fight until the last minute of the last game of the Premiership.
"But if you ask me to do it again, I would say no, let somebody else do it because I will not take that gamble any more because it was so difficult."
Arsenal fans of the past, current and future generations, though, will forever be grateful that it was in Arsenal where Arsene did indeed put his trust.
Source: PA-WIRE
