Arsenal: Liverpool the dream for Unai Emery rebuild

Unai Emery is conducting a rebuild at Arsenal football club. What Jurgen Klopp has done at Liverpool is the dream scenario for the Gunners.

When Unai Emery arrived at Arsenal last summer, it was clear what his remit as Arsene Wenger’s successor was: rebuild. Quite what the extent of the rebuild would be, no one really knew. And what resources would be apportioned to Emery was also a mystery. But the target was clear.

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Rebuilding in such a form is an inherently lengthy process. First you must rid of the wrongs of the previous era before you can begin building the foundations of the next. A year into the process and Emery is still rutting out the cultures and players of the former. But there is a goal to be aiming for at all times: catching up your rivals.

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For the Gunners, one of their rivals has undertaken this very experiment, and executed it to a remarkably high standard. Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool are the standard bearer for undertaking the rebuild. Succeeding Brendan Rodgers after a slew of misguided signings riddled the squad with overpaid, underperforming lumps, Klopp, slowly but surely, moved out the players that he did not want and replaced them with those that he did — it all sounds extremely simple when you put it like that.

Over the course of three-and-a-half years, Liverpool have gone from sixth-place finishers to two consecutive Champions League finals, the latter of which was reached on Tuesday night with a sensational 4-0 win over Barcelona, and a 90-plus-point finish in the Premier League. And it has all stemmed from smart, efficient recruitment.

Players like Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Joel Matip and James Milner are all outperforming the price tags with which they were signed. Even the more expensive signings like Virgil van Dijk, Naby Keita and Fabinho have vindicated the prices paid for them. And that has revolutionised the squad completely, with Klopp the master of it all.

Arsenal do not have the cash reserves that Liverpool do. They do not have the Philippe Coutinho sale to help fund some of their bigger moves. They do not have an owner who is willing to dip his hand into his pocket. They have a self-sustainable model with commercial streams that are dwarfed by their rivals.

Whether Emery can now conduct the same resurrection that Klopp did at Liverpool when so hamstrung by the structure of the club and the resources he will be handed, it is highly doubtful. Many managers have tried to do what Klopp has done at Anfield. Most fail. And Emery may well fail too. But the Kloppian resurgence on Merseyside is what Arsenal are aiming for.

The rebuild is underway. It still has a long way to go. And in Liverpool and Klopp, Arsenal and Emery have the perfect model to aim for.