According to a report from ESPN, Arsenal Football club have a preferred successor to manager Arsene Wenger in mind and it’s Germany boss Joachim Low. The ESPN FC report states that “Wenger’s grip on his position has been weakened significantly in recent weeks,” and “that some senior players have now lost faith in the Frenchman and believe changes are needed in the dressing room and on the training pitch.”
Numerous outlets worldwide have picked up on this news, as Wenger’s job security/the next manager at Arsenal FC has been a hot topic for a very long time.
Just yesterday, the Arsenal Supporters Trust released a poll which showed that 88% of Gunners supporters surveyed want Wenger gone, an uptick of 10% from the same poll at this time last year. #WengerOut has been a very popular hash tag on social media for a few years already.
Of course, transitioning from Wenger to Joachim Low is a lot easier said than done. First of all, it’s clear that Wenger will not move on voluntarily, he’s going to be have to be forced out. After 22 years with the club, managing Arsenal is so much a part of who he is that it’s almost impossible for him to envision doing something else with himself everyday.
Obviously, the next concern relates to Low, is he interested in the gig? Is he willing to give up leading the current World Cup champions in order to take this gig? What about other Wenger successor candidates? Club legend Thierry Henry has been long linked to the position, and he’s publicly confirmed interest.
Goal.com lists Monaco’s Leonardo Jardim and Celtic’s Brendan Rodgers as potential other “options” as well.
All in all, it’s going to be a very interesting end of the season and then into the summer at the Emirates as the future of the club gets sorted out. With Arsenal now having fallen way out of top four contention, it’s clear that a change is needed.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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