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.
3Mikel Arteta
Every Arsenal fan should already know Arteta from his time with the club as a player.
The Spaniard spent five years in North London, up until his retirement in 2016. After that he joined Manchester City to work as an assistant to Pep Guardiola.
The Telegraph says the 35-year-old is well regarded at Arsenal after his club captaincy. His existing connections with head of football relations Raul Sanllehi as well as Ivan Gazidis should help as well.
It would be a gamble to jump from one of the most experienced managers in the game to someone without a single day in charge of a club. However, Arteta knows Arsenal, and he’s worked under some of the best coaches around.
Perhaps Arsenal should be taking a gamble anyway, rather than playing it too safe and ending up needing to make another managerial change in a couple of years anyway.
Manchester City’s massive success this year should have taught him a lot as well. Plus he’s earned good reviews from former manager Arsene Wenger, current colleague Pep Guardiola and Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino. Not a bad list of references.