Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger has disclosed that he had and hand in Southampton appointing Claude Puel as coach.
The Saints are set to face the Gunners on Wednesday quarter final EFL cup at Emirates.
Puel had played under Wenger at Monaco over 20 years ago.
"We talk, of course, but not before the game. I followed his career and was always ready to talk when he needed me, but he's now older than 50, has experience in this job and I think he has done very well at Southampton so far," Wenger said.
"I spoke with him before he joined Southampton. After he signed, we became competitors and it's different.
"Before he signed, I gave him my impression of the Southampton team and the quality of their players. I always felt that they've had a very strong side of very good quality.
"You see the likes of [Jose] Fonte and Cedric [Soares] are European champions now with Portugal, so Southampton have done extremely well with their scouting.
"They have certainly been the most prolific producers of top talent in England in the last 15 years. They have not only produced talent, but top talents.
"We have some examples at our club with [Theo] Walcott, [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain and [Calum] Chambers, but don't forget they've also produced top quality players like Gareth Bale, Adam Lallana and of course others.
"They do not only produce quality players, they scout very well as well because they scouted players like Sadio Mane."
Wenger added that he believes that Puel will do a good job at the Saint May's.
"I'm not at all surprised that Puel and Southampton are doing well. He did a good job at Nice over the last four years," Wenger said.
"He built a good squad at Nice and did some very good work with the youth-team players. You can see Nice are continuing to show that this season in France."
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The Saints are set to face the Gunners on Wednesday quarter final EFL cup at Emirates.
Puel had played under Wenger at Monaco over 20 years ago.
"We talk, of course, but not before the game. I followed his career and was always ready to talk when he needed me, but he's now older than 50, has experience in this job and I think he has done very well at Southampton so far," Wenger said.
"I spoke with him before he joined Southampton. After he signed, we became competitors and it's different.
"Before he signed, I gave him my impression of the Southampton team and the quality of their players. I always felt that they've had a very strong side of very good quality.
"You see the likes of [Jose] Fonte and Cedric [Soares] are European champions now with Portugal, so Southampton have done extremely well with their scouting.
"They have certainly been the most prolific producers of top talent in England in the last 15 years. They have not only produced talent, but top talents.
"We have some examples at our club with [Theo] Walcott, [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain and [Calum] Chambers, but don't forget they've also produced top quality players like Gareth Bale, Adam Lallana and of course others.
"They do not only produce quality players, they scout very well as well because they scouted players like Sadio Mane."
Wenger added that he believes that Puel will do a good job at the Saint May's.
"I'm not at all surprised that Puel and Southampton are doing well. He did a good job at Nice over the last four years," Wenger said.
"He built a good squad at Nice and did some very good work with the youth-team players. You can see Nice are continuing to show that this season in France."
FOR MORE BREAKING NEWS ON BBM ADD: 24D8750B
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