Lukas Podolski thinks Arsenal should look to Germany for their next managerial appointment, after learning of Arsene Wenger’s imminent departure.
Last Friday, the Arsenal boss announced he would be stepping down at the end of the season. The hunt for a replacement should be well underway by now, and Podolski threw his opinion into the mix at the weekend.
“I am of the opinion that Arsenal would be good for a German manager,” he told Sunday’s Morgenpost am Sonntag. “This is my feeling. The club has been relying on German know-how for several years now.”
Presumably the 32-year-old is referring to the fairly strong German contingent at the club right now. Per Mertesacker is the club’s captain, and will take over managing the academy next season. Mesut Özil is the star of the team, and Shkodran Mustafi is the most vocal member of the defence.
Maybe a German manager could help build on those key pieces of the Arsenal puzzle and improve the team.
Here are the German coaches who have been linked with Arsenal in recent weeks:
3Thomas Tuchel
Tuchel has been out of a job since he left Borussia Dortmund last May and the 44-year-old has been linked with a host of jobs.
He hit the headlines in connection with Arsenal recently when claims from Germany said he had agreed to take over at Arsenal, despite there not being any vacancy in north London at the time.
Coveted by Bayern Munich he both wants the Bayern job and has turned it down in favour of Arsenal, depending on where you do your reading.
Despite Sven Mislintat saying he would have no problem working with Tuchel, the fact is the pair don’t like each other in the slightest and it’s hard to imagine them working together so soon after the rift that helped to bring an end to Tuchel’s time at Dortmund after he banned Mislintat from the training ground.
Brian Meyers, BvB expert, said that Tuchel would “be petty enough to ask Arsenal fire their new head scout as a condition of hiring him.” That is not a move that’s likely to go down well with the fans who have taken a quick shine to the head scout, who moved quickly and decisively upon arriving at Arsenal and landed a young Greek centreback, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and was reportedly key to convincing Arsene Wenger to go after Henrikh Mkhitaryan as part of the Alexis Sanchez deal.
Unfortunately, it seems like Tuchel is set for PSG, so Arsenal can cross him off their list.