Arsenal: Julian Nagelsmann, Patrick Vieira in managerial sweet spot

Arsenal’s managerial roulette is going to be nervy, but at the very least, we can start categorizing, and Julian Nagelsmann fits right where Patrick Vieira does.

Arsenal’s next manager could be a wide array of people ranging from Champions League winners to never managed a game for any team ever. Which kind of makes this a bit of a nervy situation, because ideally, we can find a happy middle, with someone who is young, energetic, has proven himself a bit, but not won it all so the passion and desire is still there to push on.

That isn’t Mikel Arteta, who is at one side of the spectrum. That isn’t Carlo Ancelotti, who is at the complete opposite side, and the side I am even less-inclined to peruse than the Arteta side.

That happy middle ground was centered around Patrick Vieira. No, he hasn’t managed a “top” team, but he has done something just as good – he has built his own team on the rubble of his predecessor and improved that team’s fortunes every single year, without exception.

He has given an emerging crop of young talents a chance and has his present and future heaped on the shoulders of players raised the New York City FC way. That sounds perfect for me. The question you have to ask is do you trust him to take that next step?

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The only real difference would be the increased competition and upped egos of the players. Honestly, for someone honest and no-nonsense like Vieira, that’s no problem. Not to mention the added resources.

And then there is Julian Nagelsmann, who fits in the exact same ballpark. Brought up in the same managerial educational system as Domenico Tedesco at Schalke, these two young, inexperienced managers took their new charges in the Bundesliga and brought them into Champions League play, where once it had proven to be too elusive.

He has built the way he sees fit, with youthful innovation, energy and a determination to do all he can with the resources available.

Tell me that wouldn’t work well for Arsenal. Again, the big changes would be the same as Vieira, plus the added resources would give him more to build with and, yes, that means he would do even better than what he has done in two years at Hoffenheim.

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These are the guys we should be targeting. Guys who have the desire to do more than what their current situation allows them to do. And there are two of them.

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