Former Fenerbahce SK Director of Football and ex-Arsenal scout Damien Comolli thinks the club made the wrong decision hiring Unai Emery.

Speaking to The Athletic’s The Ornstein & Chapman Podcast this week, Damien Comolli gave his thoughts on Arsenal and the decision to bring in Unai Emery to replace Arsene Wenger.

“I think they made the wrong appointment to start with when the new team came in,” Comolli said. “I think Emery was the wrong appointment.

“It’s interesting that they’re (now) trying to go back to some Arsenal DNA by appointing Arteta. He knows the club, he’s captained the club. Appointing Edu as well as a Technical Director. Again, it’s very early in the project.”

It’s not exactly controversial to say that bringing in Emery was a mistake. Arsenal had a trophyless season and couldn’t break into the top four, before falling even further behind in his second campaign.

The team did reach the Europa League final, but the actual final was an embarrassment. In the end, the fans would’ve been happier if they didn’t make the final, crashed out early on and focused on the league instead. Easy to say with hindsight, of course.

The result is that Arsenal had to make major moves to get the supporters back on side. As Comolli points out, the decision to hire Mikel Arteta and Edu helped with that. Pretty quickly, the connection with the fans is returning.

Now, they need to push on and bring back Champions League football. That’s certainly the next step to long-term success.