Why Arsenal would regret not appointing Nuno Espirito Santo
Arsenal were linked with Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Nuno Espirito Santo after sacking Unai Emery but as per The Times, that is no longer happening.
A home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League saw Arsenal go seven games without a win for the first time since 1992. It sealed the fate of Emery, who was in charge for just 18 months after succeeding legendary manager Arsene Wenger.
In truth, the pressure had been mounting on the 48-year-old for weeks, with questions raised over his tactical direction.
The Spaniard, who was sacked last week, had well-documented issues with Mesut Ozil (h/t The Sun). He often left the attacking midfielder out of his matchday squads.
Alexandre Lacazette was seen engaging in what looked like a heated row with Emery during the second half against Southampton (h/t Football.London), while Kieran Tierney was seen gesturing to the former head coach to ‘calm down’ during the 1-1 draw with Wolves at the beginning of the November (h/t Daily Record).
They went into this season after shelling out a lot of money to sign winger Nicolas Pepe, centre-back David Luiz, left-back Kieran Tierney, striker Gabriel Martinelli and defender William Saliba, who will join next summer.
They also loaned in Real Madrid midfielder Dani Ceballos. Despite a decent start to the season, their form of late has been horrendous.
Wolves, on the other hand, under Nuno, have managed to make steady progress in both the Premier League and the Europa League. This is right after taking charge in 2017 and guiding them to promotion to the Premier League in his first campaign and keeping them in the top flight last season.
Wolves qualified for a European competition for the first time in 39 years after their seventh-place finish earned them a spot in the Europa League last season.
But it looks like Arsenal have decided that they won’t be going for the Wolves manager. Instead, Ljungberg has taken temporary charge of Arsenal’s first-team.
The Gunners could’ve signed Nuno and built a team around him. By not doing so, however, they have missed out on a dynamic Premier League-proven manager.
