Arsenal are now considering their options after confirming their decision to sack Unai Emery after just 18 months in charge on Friday morning.
The Spaniard leaves after a run of seven games without a win across all competitions and with the Gunners struggling to keep up the pace for a top-four finish in the Premier League.
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In turn, it’s a tricky appointment for the club as ultimately they need a manager capable of making an immediate impact to get them back in the hunt for Champions League qualification this season, while also thinking long term and bringing in someone who can take the club forward and offer stability.
With Tottenham sacking Mauricio Pochettino last week and bringing in Jose Mourinho less than 24 hours later, it remains to be seen if Arsenal move as quickly this week, but given the club confirmed that Freddie Ljungberg would be in temporary charge as interim head coach ahead of the clash with Norwich City on Sunday, it would appear as though they’ll take their time.
With that in mind, it will no doubt offer plenty of time for speculation over a possible successor to Emery, and Sky Sports have put together a list of 10 possible candidates for the Arsenal job moving forward.
Ljungberg is named as a possible permanent solution, while Nuno Espirito Santo, Mikel Arteta, Pochettino, Rafa Benitez, Massimiliano Allegri, Patrick Vieira, Brendan Rodgers, Eddie Howe and Steven Gerrard are all named as potential contenders.
Further, Diego Simeone, Julian Nagelsmann, Carlo Ancelotti and Chris Wilder are all mentioned as long-shots, and so there really is a plethora of options for Arsenal to consider and to decide which direction they want to go.
Rodgers would arguably be one of the more unrealistic options given how well Leicester City are doing so far this season, while Santo, Arteta, Benitez, Vieira, Howe, Gerrard, Simeone, Nagelsmann, Ancelotti and Wilder are all currently in jobs.
That would perhaps make it more tricky to get deals done, with Pochettino and Allegri free agents and potentially ready to jump back into management.
Pochettino would of course have to put his Tottenham past aside and risk tarnishing his reputation with Spurs fans if he joined their rivals, while Allegri is said to want the job, as per Sky Sports reporter Kaveh Solhekol in his tweet below.
Time will tell who Arsenal go with, but it promises to be a fascinating few days and perhaps even weeks as various names will be linked with the position and one could emerge as the ideal choice to replace Emery.
Senior figures at Arsenal wanted José Mourinho to replace Emery before he took the Spurs job. There’s been contact between Arsenal and Max Allegri. He wants the job but his English is not perfect either
— Kaveh Solhekol (@SkyKaveh) November 29, 2019