“Paco was a Spanish former professional and always also said that Arsène would be a great footballer,” says Muller. There is some debate, though, about how good Wenger could have become. Hild reckons that he might have had a top professional career if he was spotted at 15 rather than 19. Wenger still progressed from Mutzig to play professionally, finally, with Hild at Racing Club Strasbourg when he was 28. As well as running the youth and reserve teams, he briefly played in the Uefa Cup and for the only Strasbourg team to have won the French league.

“He was a good amateur and a good technician but, even in his early twenties, he was playing like a coach,” says Fluck, who suggests that Wenger’s desire to be a top player never matched his drive to succeed as a manager.

During a recent visit to London, Fluck also discovered how his friend has remained at his playing weight even through almost 40 years in coaching.