Arsene Wenger changed my life with two-minute meeting and life lesson – I’ll never forget that conversation
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EMMANUEL PETIT has revealed the major impact a brief training ground conversation with Arsene Wenger had on the rest of his life. Wenger brought his fellow Frenchman to Arsenal in the summer of 1997 from his former club Monaco for a fee of £2.5million.
![[Arsene Wenger with new Arsenal signings Emmanuel Petit and Marc Overmars.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/new-signings-frenchman-emmanuel-petit-400272265.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The pair, however, were already well acquainted as Wenger handed the defensive midfielder his professional debut with the Ligue 1 club. A teenage Petit shone in that match against then big boys Sochaux but cut a dejected figure in training the following day.
![[Arsene Wenger and Emmanuel Petit holding their Manager of the Month and Player of the Month awards.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/arsenal-double-pic-eddie-keogh-1587903.jpg?strip=all&w=656)
Sensing something was up, Wenger pulled him for a chat - in which he gave the future France star a life lesson he'd never forget. During an appearance on That Peter Crouch podcast, Petit said: "After that game, I was man of the match but the following day at the training session, it was a beautiful day on Sunday morning, and I was not happy at all.
![[Arsene Wenger and Emmanuel Petit at Arsenal training.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/determined-wenger-petit-training-yesterday-1430174.jpg?strip=all&w=614)
"And I was very quiet, I didn't talk to anyone. I knew I did something good the day before but for my first game, I should've been proud of it. "But I was not happy at all and he asked me to have a meeting with him for a couple of minutes on the pitch.
"And he looked at me and he said, 'Manu, if you want to discover what kind of player you can be on the pitch, you must discover what kind of human being you want to be in this world.'. "And he said, 'If you are able to open your eyes, you will see the beautiful things in the world.
![[Emmanuel Petit and Arsène Wenger after Arsenal won the Premier division championship.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/manager-arsene-wenger-frenchmen-pose-1552219_9673b2.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
