• Wenger says there will ‘certainly’ be a weekend European league • Arsenal manager says he did best work at the club from 2006-15

Arsène Wenger is convinced that a seismic change to the game is afoot and that the coming years will witness the inception of a European Super League. The outgoing Arsenal manager believes it will take over from the Premier League at weekends, with domestic matches being played in midweek. One of the knock-on effects would be a reduction in the number of teams in the Premier League.

Wenger, who is impeccably connected at Fifa and Uefa, described the change as “inevitable” because the big clubs will no longer want to share broadcast revenues with the smaller ones, whom fewer fans are keen to watch.

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He claimed that audiences were down for midweek Champions League ties and a move to glamour European fixtures at weekends under a new format would be attractive. Elite-level clubs in mainland Europe, he added, would be receptive to the Super League because it would enable them to attack the financial dominance of the Premier League.

“Maybe I will see you in a few years and you will certainly have a European league over the weekends,” Wenger said. “A domestic league will certainly play Tuesday/Wednesday. It will happen and it will be soon because it is a way for other clubs to fight against the Premier League.

“Why at weekends? Because the Champions League doesn’t sell well anymore. Look at the audiences of the Champions League. There’s a contrast there because if you look at the audiences of the Champions League, it is not fantastic. But if you have Real v Barca or Real v Arsenal or Manchester United v Bayern Munich every week, the audiences will be good.

“It is inevitable. Why? First of all, to share money between the big clubs and small clubs will become a problem. Why? Because the big clubs will say that if two smaller clubs are playing each other nobody wants to watch it. People want to watch quality. The big clubs say: ‘So we have to share the money but nobody is interested in you?’

“The Premier League will get smaller. If you want to make it more attractive, you have to go down to 16 and make a real competition of it. But it will be smaller if it goes to Europe.”

Wenger was in unusually reflective mood as he prepared for the final match of his 22-year Arsenal tenure at Huddersfield Town on Sunday. He said the years after the club’s move to the Emirates Stadium in 2006, when he had to manage with restricted budgets, were his most challenging and when he did his finest work.

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“I would say, personally, from 2006 to 2015 – it was certainly the period where I needed to be the strongest and did my best job,” he said.