Former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein has recalled hiring Arsene Wenger as manager.

Writing in his new book, 'Calling the Shots: How to Win in Football and Life', Dein described the qualities that convinced him to move for Wenger in 1996.

Adapted by the Daily Mail, Dein said: "Quite apart from his intelligence and his command of languages — English isn't even his second language — is his demeanour. His global knowledge of the game was striking. In those days, when information on foreign players in overseas leagues tended to come through notes or from a VHS video, recommendations coming in via a phone call or a fax message, he built up an encyclopaedic knowledge in his memory bank. He didn't need others to tell him about a footballer because he generally already knew and he had this knack of assessing qualities very quickly.

"I saw qualities in Arsene that I had not seen in any British manager. I felt certain he would bring elements to the job and the club that could be transformative. He wasn't your average ex-player — he had been to university and had a degree in economics, which gave him an appreciation of the business side of football, and he had studied medicine, so he had an understanding of the physiology of a human being in the case of injuries. He was worldly and interesting.

"By the time we realised that Bruce Rioch wasn't working out, Arsene was under contract and on the other side of the world. I decided to bat for him and called Glenn Hoddle to get the players' view and asked his opinion. His words to me were simple: 'Just take him'."