Arsenal: Marcelino makes little sense, but that’s okay

Arsenal are strongly linked to Marcelino all of a sudden, and while his move makes no sense, there’s no point counting anything out this early.

Arsenal need a new manager, as Freddie Ljungberg is proving to be a sad extension of Unai Emery thus far, incapable of making tough decisions and making the necessary changes. Maybe that changes, but he really is at a point in time where we really can’t wait around to find out.

Last night, the former Valencia manager Marcelino was “spotted” in London. All of a sudden, rumors kicked up that he was going to take over the managerial job, despite being so far from the conversation throughout the course of developments.

Personally, I don’t understand the link one bit. It’s like we really are trying to re-do Unai Emery. They’d be getting a guy with a decent record in Spanish football, without the big-time management of a club on PSG’s level.

Marcelino hasn’t won much of anything as a manager either. Let’s revisit my official managerial criteria. 1. You have proven you can win but are young enough to mold into the Arsenal culture. 2. You are young enough to mold into the culture of our club, but maybe haven’t had the chance to win anything big.

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Marcelino might fit into the second camp if you want to stretch it, but he’s been in coaching a long time and the most he’s won is a Copa Del Rey. I don’t want to discredit that win, and he did win a manager of the year award in La Liga, but Marcelino doesn’t have a lot of sparkle.

I’m okay with that.

Right now, there aren’t a lot of people I’m not okay with. Mauricio Pochettino and Carlo Ancelotti are essentially it. I’m open-minded. I want to see someone that can be the guy for the next decade. And despite what some fans think, I still trust Edu and Raul Sanllehi. I still think Unai Emery was the right choice, he just got caught in a bad situation where success was next to impossible.

If they think that Marcelino is the guy to take the club forward, then I’m on board. Honestly, I would rather Max Allegri or even Niko Kovac, but again, open-mindedness. Try it. It’s pretty fun most of the time.

So I leave you with a shrug. I won’t tell you to get excited about Marcelino, but then again, any new manager is exciting. Except Pochettino.