UNAI EMERY has emerged as the clear favourite to replace Arsene Wenger who waves goodbye to Arsenal at Huddersfield later this afternoon...
UNAI EMERY has emerged as the clear favourite to replace Arsene Wenger who waves goodbye to Arsenal at Huddersfield later this afternoon.
The Gunners will move for the departing Paris Saint-Germain coach Emery after both Luis Enrique and Max Allergi expressed reservations about the two tier management structure.
A major obstacle however is thought to be that the Spaniard wants around £8.5million a year to move to the capital when he leaves PSG.
Arsenal will surely be reluctant to part with such a figure after a large outlay in January.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were purchased and German international Mesut Ozil was also handed a bumper new contract to add to the wage bill.
Emery joined PSG from Sevilla two years ago but has not been a success at a club that now expects to win every competition they are involved in.
The 46-year-old could only finish second behind Monaco in his first season in charge and has been playing catch up ever since.
Although the Ligue 1 title was secured this time around to go with double Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue glory, his ultimate failings have come in Europe.
PSG failed to make an impact in the Champions League after suffering painful exits at the last-16 stage to Spanish opposition in both seasons.
Last year the club were embarrassed by Barcelona who came back from a 4-0 deficit from the first leg in Paris to win the tie 6-5 on aggregate.
And after leading in the Bernabeu against Real Madrid, the Parisians ended up losing both legs to once again fall short this season.
Emery arrived at PSG with a strong reputation after guiding Sevilla to three consecutive Europa League wins and also performed well with limited resources at Valencia.
But ultimately the Spaniard has been unable to deliver the one big prize that the Qatari owners crave.
Wenger will take charge of his final game as Arsenal manager today after 22 years at the helm.
His final opponents, Huddersfield, will also be in celebratory mood after already securing their Premier League survival and Wenger was full of praise for the Yorkshire side.
"Huddersfield....they go to City, they go to Chelsea. That is incredible....absolutely exceptional," he said.
“But I will say to the players the best way to prepare the future is win the next game and go into a positive mind into next season.”
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