Arsene Wenger Prematurely Congratulates George Weah on Being Elected Liberia President
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger took a minute out of his press conference on Thursday to congratulate George Weah on winning Liberia’s presidential election. The only issue is that George Weah has not been elected president of Liberia.
“Well done, George, and I would say just for him to keep his enthusiasm and his desire to learn and to win,” Wenger, who managed Weah for four years at Monaco, said, according to the BBC.
Weah is running for president in his home country but he hasn’t been elected just yet. Voting was conducted on Tuesday and the results have still not been announced, as of Thursday evening local time. That didn’t stop all sorts of false reports from spreading around the internet touting Weah’s victory.
The BBC’s reporter thought at first that Wenger was breaking the news after having spoken to Weah, but it appears the legendary manager merely got duped by those farcical stories.
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There were 20 candidates in the election and one person needs to receive more than 50% of the votes in order to be declared the winner. It is widely expected that a second round of voting will be required to elect a new president, so Wenger may have to wait a little bit to congratulate Weah for real.
Perhaps Wenger was trying to return the favor of Weah praising Wenger during his acceptance speech after winning the 1995 Ballon d'Or.
Weah came close to being elected president in 2005 but was defeated by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. He campaigned successfully for senate in 2014.
His son, Timothy, currently plays for PSG and the USA U-17 national team and is taking part in the U-17 World Cup in India.
