So you want to know about Arsene Wenger?

Arsène Wenger's arrival at Arsenal has been a win-win situation.

Arsenal have enjoyed enormous success while the Frenchman's stock, summed up by the 'Arsène who' headlines on his arrival, has risen immeasurably.

In reality, the 'Arsène who' headline was more a reflection of the British media's insularity and lack of knowledge (at that time) of football on the continent.

The fact that Bayern Munich wanted him to join them while he was at Monaco is an indication of just how much of a reputation he had earned during a short career.

However, his time at Arsenal has been nothing less than spectacular. So much so that it has inspired three books.

The first, 'The Professor', written by Myles Palmer has recently been updated to take in the recent League and Cup successes, while Jasper Rees' 'The Making of a Legend' and Alex Fynn and Kevin Witcher's 'The Glorious Game' were printed last year.

Of the three only 'The Glorious Game' boasts exclusive access to the man himself and those within the club, and ironically is the most critical of both. But of the three it is Rees' book which provides the most interesting revelations by digging into Wenger's distant past by charting his path to Highbury. It is also the better written of the three.

Where 'The Glorious Game' and especially 'The Professor' stumble is that most of the information on which they are based is already known by most Arsenal fans, mopped up and spat out by the insatiable appetite of the media.

Palmer's book also suffers from a hurried feel in the final chapters. Perhaps a result of a 'rush order' from Virgin books attempting to cash in the recent 'Double' success.

The earlier chapters are largely based on the author's attendance at post match press conferences and analysis on player selections, tactics and his opinion of them.

Overall, it's predictability, focusing so much on game by game reactions, leaves an unsatisfying gap and fails to offer the inside track that readers are looking for.

Like Fynn's book 'The Professor' unwisely attempts to answer the conundrum of the club's European form. A mistake, and the biggest flaw of both. Do they really think they can do the job better than Wenger?

For me neither provides a real answer, because there is no definitive answer. Nor is there a convoluted answer because football is not an exact science. If it was the likes of Wolves would never beat the likes of Manchester United.

My own take on it is that the club is now good enough to win the Champions League. Obviously, the best players have to be fit and available at the crucial times and play at the top of their form but on the whole Arsenal's 'failure' in Europe has largely been as a much about luck, or lack of it.

I say 'failure' but the very fact that Wenger has taken the club to Europe's high table every year is a massive achievement for any club, let alone one that looked anything like a European force before Wenger's arrival.

Both Palmer and Fynn's books barely acknowledge this and seem to lose that perspective when trying to answer the question. Perhaps reflecting the level of expectation that now surrounds the club.

The argument is that Arsenal is now full of World Cup winners and should win the Champions League, but so are Real Madrid, Juventus, AC Milan and Bayern Munich and by that logic so should they.

Only one of these teams can win the competition each year, but in quality they are all on a par albeit with differing strengths.

Wenger's and Arsenal's problem is that neither he nor the club have yet won the 'Big One' and as a result it is a basis for criticism.

Another criticism of Fynn's book is that its tone, as it draws to the end, seems clouded by the club's failure to retain their Premiership crown in 2003. Had they enjoyed back to back 'Doubles' I suspect the criticism would have been far less. Perhaps going too far in the opposite direction in trying not to come across as fans of the club.

Another area in which the book now suffers is the uncertainty of the Ashburton Grove Stadium project and the fact that neither Patrick Vieira nor Robért Píres had committed themselves to new contracts.

At the time of writing (or going to print) there was the sense that the club was in financial crisis, given its commitment to the move away from Highbury, and that the potential loss of Vieira and Píres looming.

Undoubtedly losing good players would have been a blow but the club, at this moment in time, is at arguably the highest point in it's history. With a manager who is without question one of the finest the world has known. And the only book that seems to really appreciate this is Rees'.

With the sense of a smile it details an undistinguished playing career and then charts the moves and 'breaks' that have modeled Wenger into the manager he is today.

The overwhelming feeling is that Wenger was born to be a manager, even if he demonstrated the intelligence to have selected any number of careers.

What he chose, though, was football. And undoubtedly every Arsenal fan is glad he did.

Only the period of domination in the 1930s can be compared to Wenger's in terms of trophies and style of play.

Fynn's book also suggests that he could just have easily ended up managing at a club that resides at the other end of the Seven Sisters Road, and that a former Tottenham legend, Glenn Hoddle, played a vital role in his arrival at Highbury.

But the greatest influence in Wenger's arrival seems to have been that of vice-chairman David Dein.

The overwhelming feeling from Rees' book is that both man and club are the perfect match for each other. Both coming together at just about the best time for both.

Wenger has tried to become an expert on every aspect of life that could have a positive influence on a footballer and the result of a football match. In that sense Wenger has tried to turn a sport into as much of an exact science as possible, while always appreciating the variable of the human element.

If I had to recommend just one of the books it would be Rees' but with the reservation that a better book about Wenger will be written.

It'll be penned by a complete football nut, who has devoted himself, almost entirely, to football. That author will be Wenger himself. I suspect that only then will the real man be revealed, given his naturally private nature.

Only Wenger and Arsenal can decide how long the association continues. My hope is that he will extend his stay beyond 2005 and oversee the club's move into the new stadium. I also hope that despite Wenger's professed desire to one day return to Japan and his 'spiritual home' he can be persuaded to remain at the club after his management career has ended, in a role similar to one the one held by Franz Beckenbauer at Bayern Munich.

With this in mind I suspect that there are many, many more chapters to be written and that the definitive book may be a long way off yet.

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