Just like Sir Alex Ferguson did at Manchester United five years ago, Arsene Wenger has announced he will leave Arsenal at the end of the season.

Back in 2013, Ferguson revealed he would end his 26-year spell at Old Trafford and retire at the end of the campaign.

While Ferguson’s announcement came as a bit of a surprise, many believe that Wenger’s decision to step down has come a couple of years too late.

Despite having another year left on his deal, there was always a chance Wenger would be leaving this summer.

But when Ferguson revealed he would retire back in May 2013, plenty of people were shocked.

None more so than first-team coach Rene Meulensteen.

Meulensteen - one of Ferguson’s closest allies - has revealed how shocked he was when Ferguson told him of his decision and admitted that they had even done some planning for pre-season.

WHO MAN UTD LOOKED AT BEFORE FERGIE LEFT

"The fact that he was going to retire or finish came to me and a lot of others as a complete bombshell. He was as sharp as ever. He was always an early bird, always arriving early at Carrington. I didn't read anything in him where it suggested it would be his last season,” Meulensteen told MEN Sport.

"We had very normal staff meetings regarding pre-season. That year we were going to Australia. Sir Alex even mentioned taking us to one of the best vineyards out there. I was looking forward to that! We had possible scouting meetings, possible players we were looking at in terms of trying to build a picture of what we think we need. All that was ongoing.”

And as part of pre-season preparation, United were already looking at potential signings.

In fact, Meulensteen has revealed that the club were specifically looking at three players before Ferguson left.

“We looked at a few German players like Hummels, who went to Bayern Munich. I think we looked at Gundogan and Reus, too. There was a number of players but we never got that specific to really target them,” Meulensteen revealed.

Just imagine if the Red Devils had signed that trio.

Instead, David Moyes replaced Fergie and ended up signing Marouane Fellaini for £27.5 million.

Yeah, not quite Hummels, Gundogan and Reus, was it?