Arsenal have officially sacked Unai Emery, and now, the search for a successor begins. Here is the latest news from reliable outlets all in one place:
The footballing world was rocked on Friday morning, as Arsenal announced the departure of Unai Emery, following a poor run of form which has seen the Gunners go winless in 7 straight matches, and fall a whopping 8 points out of the Premier League top 4 just 13 weeks into the season. Emery leaves after a rocky 18 months in charge, which saw him alienate some of the club’s best players, fail to instil a proper style of play, fail to improve the defence, and eventually, lose the trust of the entire fanbase.
Now, the search for a successor begins, and plenty of outlets are hopping onto the scene to give their findings on the subject. Freddie Ljungberg has of course been given the interim management role, and could very well have a shot at the permanent job should he do well, but for now, there are plenty of different names floating around the place.
Of course, the man who initially broke the big Emery news, as always, was the reliable David Ornstein of the Athletic, who also claimed around 12 pm ET on Friday that former Spurs manager, Mauricio Pochettino, is indeed a credible option to succeed Unai Emery.
Of course, the Argentine only just left his post at Arsenal’s rivals and it remains to be seen whether he would even be willing to work for the club he spent years trying to upend, but things change quickly in the footballing world, and the fact that Spurs sacked him just 5 months after he took them to the Champions League final likely will have left a sour taste in his mouth.
Di Marzio has claimed that Manchester City assistant manager Mikel Arteta is indeed in the running for the job. Arteta is a former Arsenal captain and was on the verge of succeeding Arsene Wenger in the role back in 2018 until Ivan Gazidis did a U-turn and hired Emery instead.
In the same article, Di Marzio has brought up Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo as one of the frontrunners to replace Emery, and many other outlets and journalists have had similar stances, including Mohamed Bouhafsi of RMC Sport.
Arteta would be a high risk-high reward option that knows Arsenal well and has exceptional communication skills. He has also been touted as a future star manager the likes of Arsene Wenger and Pep Guardiola – it might be prudent for Arsenal to jump on this ship before they live to regret it.
The Independent also claims that Arteta is the leading candidate to replace Emery.
There are also plenty of rumours flying around that super-agents Kia Joorabchian and Jorge Mendes will be heavily involved in the search for a new manager at the Emirates. Working with super-agents is something that was frowned upon by Arsene Wenger, but Raul Sanllehi has opened the doors to them. Mendes represents Nuno Espirito Santo, which is likely the reason why he is one of the frontrunners at the moment, while Joorabchian works with technical director Edu often.
Other managers being linked with the post are Brendan Rodgers and Massimiliano Allegri, although it would be very difficult to pry the former away from high-flying Leicester City at the moment, while the latter has reportedly ruled himself out of the job.
Lastly, we cannot rule out the possibility of Freddie Ljungberg taking up the permanent role should he do well during his interim period. James Benge of Football London has recently squashed the rumours that Ljungberg doesn’t have the required coaching licenses to manage Arsenal permanently, which erases one of the biggest doubts over him. It will be intriguing to see how Arsenal continue the season without Unai Emery, as they look to get things back on track across all competitions.