Arsenal are preparing to unveil Unai Emery as Arsene Wenger’s successor after backing away from the gamble of giving former captain Mikel Arteta his first managerial job. In an extraordinary twist yesterday, Emery’s experience with Sevilla and Paris St Germain ultimately ensured that he won over Arsenal’s decision-makers and formal confirmation of his appointment is now expected in the next 48 hours.
Despite having no managerial experience, Arteta had been poised to replace Wenger after getting to know chief executive Ivan Gazidis during his six years at Arsenal as a player and then winning rave reviews for his training ground work as Pep Guardiola’s number two at Manchester City.
Emery, whose contract at Paris Saint-Germain was not renewed at the end of the season, made a late play for the job and was well known for his work in Spain to Arsenal’s new head of football relations Raul Sanllehi, who was previously Barcelona’s director of football.
Aged 46, one immediate priority for Emery will be to improve his command of the English language. Arsenal have been intending to make an announcement on Wenger’s successor this week and are adamant that, after what they regard as a thorough and efficient process, they have settled on the outstanding all-round candidate.
Emery certainly has far more experience than Arteta, having managed six clubs in three different countries across almost 800 games during 13 years as a coach. He especially excelled at Sevilla, where he won the Europa League for three successive seasons between 2014 and 2016.
Wenger has been offered the chance to work himself at PSG as the club’s general manager alongside new head coach Thomas Tuchel but is still minded to remain in frontline management.
“He is a close friend, I have a lot of admiration and respect for him and everything he has done in football,” said PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi.
