Massimiliano Allegri and Mikel Arteta are the two leading candidates to take over from Arsene Wenger this summer according to Chris Wheatley.
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Wheatley writes that Allegri was in London recently and is ‘expected to take on a new challenge this summer.’
Ivan Gazidis, however, is said to be a firm supporter of Mikel Arteta who has spent the last two years as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City.
Speaking recently about the former Arsenal midfielder, Guardiola said, “I’m not the right person to talk about, because my opinion about Mikel is overwhelming.
“He deserves the best, we like working with him, he is one of the reasons for our success this season.”
“There are many names for the next Arsenal manager, I do not know what their plans are, but I know Mikel very well and he deserves everything he wants.”
At the end of April it was reported that Gazidis met with three managers before Arsene Wenger announced he would be leaving at the end of the season.
Allegri would be many people’s favourite for the job (well, mine at least).
The Italian manager failed to win the Champions League this season (or even make the semi-finals), which was their primary aim and has already hinted he would like to move to the Premier League.
The Old Lady have conceded just 23 goals in Serie A this season, less than half the number of goals Arsenal have shipped (48).
While Shkodran Mustafi is not Chiellini and never will be, Allegri could surely turn him into a competent defender, at least and might enable Arsenal to make better use of the resources they already have at the club.
When Juventus are facing a team of lesser quality (like against Tottenham in the Champions League), they usually play with four at the back to allow themselves to push higher up the field with numbers.
In their Serie A games, when facing teams nearer to them in the table, Allegri has had success with the more traditional Italian system of three at the back.
Juventus employed this against AC Milan in a 3-1 win and something similar to it this past week against Napoli (which they lost, 1-0).
Being able to use multiple, different defensive strategies successfully would translate well to the Premier League, where there are so many different managing styles.
In past seasons, Arsenal have at times struggled due to an inability to adapt when “plan A” fails.
Allegri also has defensive success without compromising on attack.
The results speak for themselves; Juventus have only allowed 23 goals, but they have also scored the second most in Serie A with 85 (Arsenal have scored 72).
With a manager that is more skilled at organising defences like Allegri, Arsenal may not make the same bone-headed mistakes they have made this season.
While there is no indication that this is even an option, I could totally get behind an Allegri-Arteta ticket. Do you think we could talk Mikel into being Allegri’s number two?