When I saw a headline on the S*n’s website about Fernandinho begging Mikel Arteta to stay at the club this summer, my interest was piqued.
Begging?
Why was he begging?
Had something happened? Were the rumours about Mikel Arteta taking over from Arsene Wenger starting to grow?
Was there more credibility to them now?
Now sometimes, I know, subheads set headlines that are a little naughty and don’t bear any reflection of the piece they top.
So, did the author of the piece, Martin Blackburn, set up that headline with his article? Well his intro reads, “FERNANDINHO is praying Manchester City coach Mikel Arteta is not lured back to Arsenal this summer.”
It would seem so.
Not only is Fernadinho ‘begging’, he’s ‘praying’ also.
Clearly Fernandinho must have said something quite impressive to be accused of both ‘begging’ and ‘praying’.
Well, not exactly…
“One of the positive things about Pep is that he is so close with his staff – they support him in every situation,” he said.
“And we as players have huge contact with them. For me, especially Mikel Arteta, because he played in the same position as I play.
“So sometimes I have private chats with him to correct some positions, or something that is wrong.
“All the people are behind Pep and it is fantastic. That is why we are a very good team – it’s not just the players and the manager, but also the staff.
“Mikel has helped to improve me a lot this season, with his advice.”
Ivan Gazidis did, reportedly, meet with three managers before Arsene Wenger made his announcement last month.
Were any of them Mikel Arteta?
Read on to find out…
Gazidis met with 3 managers before Wenger’s announcement
by Dan Critchlow
Ivan Gazidis met with three managers in the search for Arsene Wenger’s successor before the 68-year-old even announced his Arsenal departure, according to information in a recent report.
Goal published a report earlier this month on the managers in line to replace Arsene Wenger, but the most interesting part was that Arsenal chief executive Gazidis had already met with some of them.
Whatever the Chief Executive says publicly about the hunt of Wenger’s successor starting now, clearly there’s already been some work done behind the scenes.
Let’s take a look at the three managers to hold talks with the 53-year-old, and how likely they are to end up taking over this summer.
Carlo Ancelotti
Goal report that Ivan Gazidis met with Ancelotti earlier this season, and for many he’s the safe choice for Arsenal.
The 58-year-old has a massive amount of experience, having managed Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
The Italian manager has also been very successful in picking up trophies. He lifted at least one with all of the above clubs, including the Champions League on three different occasions.
He also won the league with four of his last five clubs, only failing to do so with Madrid.
Since joining Chelsea in 2009, his win ratio with each club has never been less than 60%. Wenger’s current ratio with Arsenal is 57%.
The Gunners have already lost more games this season than Ancelotti lost in his entire spell with Bayern Munich. Although, in fairness, that isn’t saying much.
Ancelotti is currently on a leave of absence from management, after leaving Bayern Munich in September.
He should be available this summer.
Click ‘Next’ to see the other two managers Gazidis met with
Manuel Pellegrini
Gazidis reportedly met with Pellegrini last campaign. This fits with other reports from earlier this season, when the Chilean media claimed Arsenal negotiated with the manager before his eventual move to Chinese Super League side Hebei China Fortune. He’s still managing in China today.
Manuel Pellegrini recently spent three seasons with Manchester City, winning the Premier League and two League Cups before he was replaced by Pep Guardiola.
He certainly has experience in England, though he wasn’t always the most popular with fans.
Back in 2016, he addressed a near empty stadium after his final appearance at the Etihad. He refused to blame supporters for that afterwards, but clearly they’d grown apathetic by that point.
I’m not sure he’s therefore the man to inspire and reunite the Arsenal fanbase. Then again, I personally wouldn’t have predicted a man managing Nagoya Grampus Eight to achieve the success Wenger did here.
Thomas Tuchel
Tuchel is out of a job since leaving Borussia Dortmund last May and the media have linked the 44-year-old with a host of jobs. According to Goal, he met with Gazidis this season.
He hit the headlines in connection with Arsenal in March when claims from Germany said he had agreed to take over at Arsenal, despite there not being any vacancy in north London just yet.
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.
Most recently, the French media have strongly linked him with a move to PSG. In fact, that is almost starting to look like a done deal. Reliable BBC journalist David Ornstein claimed as much on Twitter recently.
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.