David Ornstein says Mikel Arteta is the ‘frontrunner’ for the Arsenal job, and staff feel he is set to get it, but there are still whispers that Max Allegri isn’t out of the picture.

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Writing on the BBC website, Ornstein summed up Arsenal’s managerial appointment process so far. The club reportedly didn’t start speaking to anyone about the job until after Arsene Wenger announced his departure, as they didn’t want to do anything behind his back.

That hesitance meant they missed out on Thomas Tuchel. Meanwhile Joachim Low, Diego Simeone, Luis Enrique, Carlo Ancelotti and Brendan Rodgers were never serious candidates anyway.

The club spoke to a number of contenders, before cutting the list down to Allegri, Arteta and Vieira. Ornstein says all three were ‘definitely’ spoken to, whether directly or indirectly. There could also have been contact with Julian Nagelsmann, Thierry Henry and Leonardo Jardim.

At this stage, it seems Vieira has ‘drifted out of contention’, just leaving Arteta and Allegri. Arteta is the favourite, but it could seemingly still go either way.

Who makes the decision?

Ivan Gazidis is reportedly responsible for the decision, but he’s getting help from head of football relations Raul Sanllehi and head of recruitment Sven Mislintat. Once the trio decide on a manager, they’ll present their recommendation to the board for approval.

From the looks of things, we should get a decision on the new manager pretty soon. If we’re down to two candidates, and Juventus’ season ends this weekend, there aren’t many reasons to drag it out.

It’s good to see the club going through a proper appointment process though. We saw the dangers of just going with the first person that pops into the previous manager’s head at Manchester United. With any luck, the new boss will be more successful as a result of Arsenal’s thoroughness.

For profiles of the two remaining candidates, click ‘Next’

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