Arsenal confident of beating Chelsea to Luis Enrique - if they decide he is first choice
Arsenal are confident they could beat Chelsea to the appointment of Luis Enrique – if they decide to make him their number one target to replace Arsene Wenger.
Enrique is among a list of names Arsenal are currently working through since Wenger announced his decision to step down as manager at the end of the season.
The Spaniard is currently rated as the early favourite to replace the Frenchman, although Arsenal have not yet settled on their preferred successor and there is well known rival interest from Chelsea.
Chelsea had been expected to replace Antonio Conte with Enrique in the summer, but the Blues revaluated their options after discovering his wage demands of around £15million-a-year.That could yet put off Arsenal, although there is an expectation that, wherever he resumes his career, Enrique will have to accept a lower salary now that Paris Saint-Germain have chosen Thomas Tuchel as their next manager.
Enrique remains very much on Chelsea’s list of possible appointments, when, as expected, Conte goes, but they also have other targets – including Mauricio Pochettino, Maurizio Sarri, Max Allegri and Leonardo Jardim.
Jardim is also on Arsenal list, but the Gunners are not expected to go for an Italian, which would rule them out of the race for Allegri or SarriArsenal want their next man to bring the stay-away fans back and reenergise the Emirates. There is a feeling that Allegri would not fit that brief while Sarri’s character is thought to be an issue.
Former captain Mikel Arteta, who is highly rated by chief executive Ivan Gazidis, is another frontrunner for the Arsenal job and he is not expected to be of interest to Chelsea, meaning there is only a potential tug-of-war over Enrqiue.
Despite the fact Chelsea would be able to offer Enrique a bigger transfer budget and better squad to work with, Arsenal believe they have a trump card in the form of head of football relations Raul Sanllehi.
Sanllehi and Enrique worked together at Barcelona and have remained in touch since both leaving the club.
Arsenal are optimistic that Enrique would be keen to link up with Sanllehi again and that his presence would offer some assurance that he would be given time to succeed – something that is rarely on offer at Chelsea.
The Gunners have now started the process of sounding out candidates, but are not expected to be in a position to make an appointment until next month.
Head of recruitment Sven Mislintat is a big fan of Hoffenheim’s Julian Nagelsmann and Schalke’s Domenico Tedesco, but both men would represent somewhat of a gamble as they are aged 30 and 32.
Meanwhile, Wenger has been advised by his friends and close allies not to jump straight back into another job once he leaves Arsenal.
Wenger has made it clear that he expects to extend his managerial career and former vice-chairman David Dein has revealed the 68-year-old has already been receiving offers.
But friends of Wenger have told him to take a short break and wait for the right job to come, believing that an attractive national team job could become available after the World Cup or that a major European club might make a change in the first few months of next season.
Wenger’s former assistant Pat Rice believes there may even be a role for him within Fifa or Uefa.
“I think he’s so well respected if he wants to be a manager at another club,” said Rice, who worked with Wenger for 16 years at Arsenal. “I know he’s very well respected at Uefa and Fifa and I would not be surprised if he had an opportunity to go and join one of those.
“Football is his love. When I was working there you would go in the next day and talk about what film or comedy show you watched the previous night, or if you’d been out in the West End.
“He would come in and ask if anyone had seen Juventus or Roma or Barcelona v Malaga.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/04/24/arsenal-confident-beating-chelsea-luis-enrique-decide-first/
