Arsenal: Carlo Ancelotti ideal for certain circumstances

After being sacked by Napoli, Carlo Ancelotti is being linked to Arsenal’s vacant head coaching position. The hire would be ideal, but only in certain circumstances.

It would fair to say that Arsenal have a whole host of avenues they could venture down in their pursuit of a new head coach. While there is no standout candidate like when Manchester City hired Pep Guardiola or Liverpool appointed Jurgen Klopp a year later, there is a vast array of intriguing options that should be considered.

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There are the young, up-and-coming former players who are highly touted by their counterparts, Mikel Arteta and Patrick Vieira the leading names in this field. Then there are those who have excelled in the Premier League and are waiting for a step up to elite management, like Eddie Howe and Nuno Espirito Santo. And finally, there are the big European names who are immensely experienced and successful across the continent.

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It is this latter category that sees one of the more exciting names feature heavily in reports this week. After Napoli fired Carlo Ancelotti this week, per Charles Watts of Goal, Arsenal board members are set to conduct talks regarding the possibility of appointing the Italian as Unai Emery’s successor.

There are certainly few coaches that the Gunners could hire with a more impressive resume than Ancelotti’s. He has won three Champions Leagues, one of only three managers to do this and the only one to do so with multiple clubs, has won league titles in five countries, including the Premier League in their 2009/10 double-winning season, the first year in which an English team scored more than 100 goals in a league campaign, and has managed some of the best players in world football. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time. And Arsenal could bring him to the Emirates.

Based on his extended and prolific success alone, it is obvious that the club must, at the very least, consider appointing Ancelotti. They would be mad not to. But hiring him in any circumstance does not make complete sense. There are two major issues regarding Ancelotti and his management, both of which must be satisfied if he is to arrive in north London.

The first is age. Ancelotti is 60. He is nearing the end of his managerial career. He is not going to rebuild a long-term project at a team that is dire need of long-term and deep investment, recruitment and coaching. At this stage in his career, Ancelotti is a short-term fix. Is that what Arsenal really want and need?

The second is more subtle and yet pertinent: he is not a hands-on, tactically purposeful coach. His training sessions are infamously lax, he is closer to a statesman-like manager rather than a football coach who will provide detailed instruction and systems for his players. Given how directionless Arsenal have played in recent years, surely they need a more detailed and forceful coach, not a manager? He is superb when he inherits an already polished team and provides that high-level steering to win titles and trophies, but if you are asking him to build and define a squad, there is little proof that he can succeed.

Consequently, if Arsenal want an accomplished, European manager who has experience of terrific success, in the Premier League and across the world, look no further than Ancelotti. But if they choose a different avenue, the former Napoli man is not the way to go. He is ideal, but only for certain circumstances.