Arsenal: The ins and outs of finding Unai Emery replacement

Arsenal can’t just pick “a” manager, they have to pick “the” manager, assuming Unai Emery can’t recover, so here is the breakdown of what’s needed.

Arsenal suffered another loss, this time in the Europa League against Eintracht Frankfurt. The fact that the disease has spread into the midweek fixtures is a sign that things may well be irreparable. So now we have to start being serious about who you want running this club next… and who you don’t.

Replacing a manager is tough. It shouldn’t be as easy as, “Oh, let’s just throw Jose Mourinho a bone, he’s won things.” No. That’s an awful path to take. And thankfully, that’s not the way that Arsenal, as a club, think.

So what do you need? Well, what we wanted to see after Arsene Wenger was a manager that could carry on the good things Wenger instilled while improving on the not-so-good. Emery seemed the right choice in that regard. Unfortunately it just hasn’t worked out.

But the mindset was right. You don’t want a guy who hasn’t been able to win things, like Pochettino. You don’t want a well-traveled, been everywhere and has his way kind of thing like Carlo Ancelotti.

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You want either a long-term, malleable manager who has proven he can win things (which is what Unai Emery was, honestly). Or you want a long-term, malleable manager who is on the rise, who hasn’t really had a chance to win things, but looks like he could with the right tools.

That eliminates some people. Mainly Pochettino. But it highlights some people as well. Nuno Espirito Santo is a great choice, though I honestly don’t know why he’d leave Wolves at this point. He is on a roll, won promotion with the club and built them into a top-half club. Give him the resources to win and the world is his oyster.

Mikel Arteta is a good choice, even though a risky one. Julian Nagelsmann is fantastic, as he has such a clear brand of football, but his brand is evolving. It’s changing. He would meld into Arsenal culture and combine his own brand with the brand of the club. Something that Mourinho and Ancelotti wouldn’t have done.

Even Max Allegri, while seasoned, is a long-term play. That’s the key here. Get someone long-term. Someone who has a brand, but not a close-minded brand. That’s what the club needs right now.