The Sunday News
ENGLAND Premier Soccer League fading giants Arsenal have held their first interviews with candidates looking to replace Unai Emery as the club’s permanent head coach, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Emery was sacked as Gunners boss after their Europa League defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt recently, with Freddie Ljungberg being named as interim manager having been the Spaniard’s number two this season.
But despite the great faith that the club are said to have in Ljungberg, they are actively seeking a manager to replace Emery on a more permanent basis. He has managed one draw and one loss.
It is a search that the report states will be led primarily by technical director Edu and supported by head of football Raul Sanllehi, director of football operations Huss Fahmy and managing director Vinai Venkatesham.
Chiefs at the north London club are said to prefer candidates who are out of work to permanently replace Emery and who would be available to take control of the team immediately and attempt to arrest the club’s slide down the Premier League table.
That criteria would appear to put Mauricio Pochettino and Massimiliano Allegri as the clear favourites for the job, but it is still unknown whether the former would sabotage his excellent relationship with Tottenham fans, while the latter has maintained that he will not return to football before June.
Mikel Arteta, Patrick Vieira and Brendan Rodgers are also believed to be potential candidates, but they would be ruled out if that criteria is applied given that they are all part of the staff at Manchester City, Nice and Leicester City respectively.
Any appointment that is made will have to be signed off by director Josh Kroenke, the son of owner Stan, who is becoming increasingly involved in the running of the club. The Gunners’ sticky situation off the field in trying to find a manager mid-season is being reflected on the pitch, as they fell to their fourth league defeat of the season at home to Brighton on Thursday night.
Goals from Adam Webster and Neal Maupay either side of Alexandre Lacazette’s looping header sealed the Seagulls’ first ever win away at Arsenal, but confirmed the hosts’ worst run in 42 years and left them just five points above the relegation zone. Arsenal now sit tenth in the Premier League, ten points adrift of London rivals Chelsea who currently sit fourth.-sportdaily.com.ng
