You can forgive Spanish soccer fans if they've been led to believe another King Kong movie is about to be filmed soon in Madrid. For looming over the fabled Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, home of Real Madrid, with the power to rattle it to its foundations, is the game's proverbial 800-pound ####.

Why, Arsene Wenger, of course.

Dapper, suave, urbane and accomplished, he could well be Mr. Eligible soon if the boardroom battles at Arsenal aren't resolved to his liking.

With recent news that Arsenal's board are well pleased with the club's improved economic performance despite the heavy debt created by building Emirates Stadium, it looks like the determined takeover bid by American investor Stan Kroenke is facing ever-stiffening resistance, putting a damper on the return of exiled Wenger board ally David Dein.  

An early resolution would best serve the club in it's efforts to get Wenger to renew his contract before it expires at season's end. Should that war of wills and egos, which goaded star striker Thierry Henry into leaving for Barcelona, become an even more drawn-out affair, who could fault Wenger for saying au revoir, Arsenal.

The uncertainty and speculation created by this high-level showdown - will Cesc Fabregas be lured home and join Henry? Will Wenger supplant Barcelona manager Frank Rijkaard? - has led some to cheekily refer to the north London club as Barce-nal.

However, the situation at Real Madrid is one that has to tempt Wenger.

Unlike the financially-prudent but competitively-challenged Arsenal, Real is a team of unlimited wealth already well built to defend the Spanish title it holds, comfortably awaiting the group stage of Champions League play. And it's desperate to put the safe, efficient playing style of ex-manager Fabio Capello behind it and return to a more artistic approach. 

Who better, then, to do that than Wenger? He's a manager whose spurned national team opportunities in favour of running a club because a club gives him "more clay" with which to mould a playing style true to his vision.  

He's spent a decade making his Arsenal teams into a showcase for the sort of swift, flowing game the Madrilenos are craving to see again. Real's title success was an unexpected surprise and no one who supports them could be disappointed by it. But a single season of Capello's grim, grey grinding had sapped everyone's patience.

Of course, patience is hardly synonymous with Real. Since sacking Vicente Del Bosque in 2003, the team has gone through managers like grain through a goose. Their next hiring will be their seventh manager in five years.

It can't be a coincidence that, until this latest, unlikely, title, the team had gone trophyless in that time of managerial turmoil

It's a club craving stability. It's a club craving artistic success. Not many men can deliver that. Until Wenger settles his immediate future, not many may be able to do so.

Bernd Schuster, the current coach of Getafe, a plucky suburban Madrid side, had that flair on the field as a player, winning one La Liga title with Barcelona and two with Real. He's rumoured to be the front runner for Real's top job, but you have to think that he'd run a distant second if Wenger's name was in the race.

You also have to think that if he were named as Real's manager tomorrow and Wenger was to stoically see out his contract with Arsenal next season to become a free agent, it would only serve to fuel further rumours for the coming season.

Schuster and Real would be doomed to a year of endless speculation and uncertainty. Schuster's failure could be a foregone conclusion as the potential acquisition of star players may well hinge on Wenger's decision.

Madrid's already suffered a little quiver with the departure of Atletico's Fernando Torres. The next big rumble won't be its marvelous Metro rolling under foot. It'll be the impact of Arsene Wenger's next big decision.

Brace yourselves.