If Arsenal fail to make the Champions League, after a 15-year run, maybe that will be the last straw, and they’ll finally let Arsene Wenger go. Fans have been calling for his head for years: “We haven’t won a trophy in eight years!” they say. And they add: “He sells off our best players!”

Well, that’s sort of true. Arsene Wenger is obviously a very smart man. He’s watched what Chelsea under Abramovich, ManU under the Glazers, and Man City under Abu Dhabi United have done. He can’t have any illusions. Money buys the best soccer teams–to suggest otherwise is crazy. The idea that Wenger chose Arsenal’s transfer policy–buy low, sell high–is silly. Clearly he has been instructed to run the club the way he has, and so he’s had to watch as his best players have consistently left for more money and therefore better opportunities elsewhere.

(Don’t believe it? It should be noted that Stan Kroenke, Arsenal’s majority shareholder, also owns the Colorado Rapids of the MLS, the only team, last time I checked, that doesn’t take advantage of MLS’s Designated Player rule. In other words, from a fan’s perspective, he’s kind of a cheap bastard.)

So all the cries for Wenger’s head tell me that Arsenal fans have no idea how good they have it. Wenger’s ability to get top-four results out of a team of youngsters, second-rate players, and cast-offs past their prime has been profoundly amazing. That Arsenal fans are unable to see this surprises me. I guess they actually believe that Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere and the others are world-class talents.

I lived in Madrid for a semester in college, and ever since I have always to some degree rooted for Real Madrid. I have watched the parade of managers in and out, and wondered what would happen if they hired someone who actually fit the team’s personality. For years I’ve been thinking that Arsene Wenger is exactly that person.

So it is my devout hope that Arsenal will part ways with Arsene Wenger after the season, and that Real Madrid will snap him up after Mourinho leaves. What Wenger–who seems as devoted to making the beautiful game actually beautiful as anyone in soccer–would do with that squad, and with Real Madrid’s credit card, intrigues me to my core as a soccer fan. It could be simply amazing. Of course, Real Madrid have a way of destroying even the best situations, so you can’t be sure it would be a success, but I’d love to see it.

And when as Arsenal hire whoever’s available and finish in 8th or 9th for the next five years, as the quality of their squad dictates they should, then maybe all those won’t-shut-up Arsenal fans will be forced to reflect that they chased away exactly who it was that brought them the success they enjoyed.