Arsenal: The big Nuno Espirito Santo problem

Arsenal are reportedly pursuing Wolves head coach Nuno Espirito Santo as a replacement for Unai Emery. There is one big problem with the decision: it is motivated by Raul Sanllehi’s relationship with Jorge Mendes.

On Tuesday night, genuine movement on the Arsenal head coach front swept through the British media. It started with Charles Watts of Goal revealing that staff at the Emirates expect Unai Emery to be fired, the question of his future now one of when, not if, and then turned to potential replacements.

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The most groundbreaking and emphatic report came from Steve Stammers and Sami Mokbel in The Daily Mail. Their reporting claims that the Gunners are strongly considering Wolves head coach Nuno Espirito Santo as a potential replacement for Emery.

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Espirito Santo has done a terrific job with Wolves, not just leading them to promotion from the Championship but establishing them as a top-half Premier League side within their first season in the top flight. He has, it should be said, benefitted from massive investment, especially in Portuguese players, — more on this later — but on the whole, he has undertaken a tremendous job.

From a purely footballing perspective, he would be a sound and deserved hire. But should Arsenal follow through with this appointment, it would not be motivated by footballing merit and value. Rather, Espirito Santo would be moving to north London because of the relationships between the club, himself, and one particular agent.

Super-agent Jorge Mendes is Espirito Santo’s agent. Espirito Santo was actually Mendes’ first-ever client. They are close friends. Mendes is the man behind Espirito Santo’s career. And Espirito Santo is not the only man that Mendes knows well in these parts.

Arsenal hired Raul Sanllehi from Barcelona because of his expansive web of contacts. Now as head of football, the man who is pulling the strings in north London is now leaning into that web of contacts, Mendes a chief player among the possible names that Sanllehi could converse with. And so enters Espirito Santo.

It is quite clear what has happened here: Sanllehi has sent out feelers to Mendes regarding the possibility of replacing Emery, Mendes has thought about which of his clients would suit the job best, and Espirito Santo has come up trumps. Dealing with agents is always seedy, and this, like every other deal, looks no different.

Now, for Espirito Santo specifically, exploiting Sanllehi’s contacts to appoint a capable coach might work well for the Gunners. Just because you have used back channels of communication to find your man does not mean that you will end up with the wrong man. However, as a precedent, it is concerning that Arsenal are so willing to use their relationships, rather than genuine merit and value, to make such big decisions like who their new head coach will be.

Espirito Santo may well be the ideal hire. Equally, these reports may end up being utter tosh. Either way, that Arsenal are so keen to use their contacts is concerning. Relying on relationships is inherently risky. It will not end well. This is the big Nuno Espirito Santo problem.