Leonardo Jardim is the ‘best bet’ to replace Arsene Wenger this summer, even though he wasn’t the club’s first choice, according to reports.

1The Latest

Wednesday’s Sport writes that the rumours around Jardim are now gaining strength. They claim Arsenal initially looked at club legends like Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira, but both declined the job.

Then they turned to Luis Enrique, but the Spaniard seems set for Chelsea instead. Now, Sport and Marca say Jardim is Arsenal’s best bet.

The media have linked the 43-year-old to the Arsenal job for a while now. Last summer they named him the club’s ‘priority’ if Wenger decided to leave, which of course he didn’t at that stage.

Then in March, more rumours came out that the Monaco manager would be keen on managing in North London. The papers claimed he was looking for a new challenge, and Arsenal ‘hugely admired’ him.

The manager’s main draw is the team he put together in 2016/17. The young side played impressive attacking football as they won Ligue 1 ahead of Paris Saint-Germain.

They also made the Champions League semi-finals, the Coupe de France semi-finals and finished runners-up in the Coupe de la Ligue. I’d certainly take that sort of season at Arsenal, but he hasn’t completely been able to replicate it this year. We’ll see what the board decide.

Click ‘next’ for the rest of the managers linked to the Arsenal job

Back