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47-year-old Champions League winner ‘keen’ to replace Wenger at Arsenal

By on April 24, 2018

According to the Telegraph, former Barcelona boss Luis Enrique is keen to replace Arsene Wenger and become the next Arsenal manager after emerging as one of the favourites for the job.

Arsenal chiefs are drawing up a list of managerial candidates after Wenger announced last Friday that he’s walking away and ending his 22-year reign in north London at the end of the season.

Chief executive Ivan Gazidis said the club needs to be ‘bold’ with the appointment of Wenger’s replacement and Sky Sports claim Mikel Arteta is the American’s first choice to take over from Wenger.

Arteta has been working alongside Pep Guardiola at Manchester City since retiring following a five-year spell at Arsenal where he made almost 150 appearances for the first team.

He lacks any sort of managerial experience but Sky Sports say Gazidis still believes the 36-year-old former midfielder has all the qualities needed to be a successful Arsenal manager.

However, Enrique has emerged as many bookmakers favourite to take over at the Emirates and the Telegraph claim the 47-year-old is ‘keen’ on the position despite transfer funds being restricted.

The newspaper says whoever takes over from Wenger will have just £50m available to spend on the squad but that hasn’t deterred the former Barcelona coach from wanting the job.

Enrique won a whole host of honours during his three-year spell at the Nou Camp including 2 La Liga titles and the Champions League so he certainly has the pedigree we need.

Sky Sports say Raul Sanllehi – our new head of operations – favours Enrique as the man to take over from Arsene having worked with him during their time together at Barca and they also say Enrique is keen to manage in England.

Mikel Arteta

No doubt other managers will also be considered with the likes of Max Allegri, Leonardo Jardim, Julian Nagelsmann, Joachim Low and Domenico Tedesco also being touted as targets but it seems Enrique and Arteta are currently the front-runners.

It’s going to be interesting to see who wins this power battle between Gazidis and Sanllehi. Will Gazidis get his way and appoint Arteta or will Sanllehi’s influence lead to Enrique getting the job?

On paper, Enrique is the better option as he’s got top level experience and won numerous trophies with Barcelona but Arteta knows Arsenal and would be a young and exciting appointment if we went down that route.

Part of me thinks we need someone like Allegri but a younger more innovative manager is also appealing so it’s going to be fascinating to see who the clubs end up hiring.

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