Arsenal next manager list topped by two Italians with Frank and Fabregas tied | OneFootball

With Arsenal threatening another bottle job, there is sufficient discussion of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal future that the idea of someone other than him being Gunners manager next season must be considered.

The Gunners have seen a nine-point lead cut to five but the picture is rather more bleak than that. The form table best illustrates a wobble that has put the destiny of the title in Manchester City’s hands.

But who could the next manager be in such a scenario? According to the latest odds, in all likelihood it’d be one of these.

11) Cesc Fabregas  At the time of writing, some are offering the same odds on Fabregas taking over as Thomas Frank which feels… unlikely. Unless that whole paper cup unpleasantness was the prelude to the unveiling of a sinister plot to take down Spurs from the inside before showing some competency as Arsenal manager.

Nope, given the choice of where to put our money, it would be on another of Wenger’s Spanish ex-midfielders. Some Arsenal fans are already banging the Cesc drum having monitored his success at Como, who have gone from Serie B to a battle for European places at the top of Serie A.

10) Patrick Vieira Loads of joint 10th favourites (your Ancelottis, your Glasners, your Terzics) here but we’ll single out Vieira for the fun of Arsenal replacing a knows-the-club former midfielder with the ultimate knows-the-club former midfielder. At this point, we feel compelled to point out that you don’t have to have played in midfield for Wenger to manage Arsenal.

=4) Andoni Iraola We absolutely agree he has what it takes to manage a Big Six club, but that club probably needs to be in greater distress than Arsenal to go down this road.

=4) Unai Emery Failed at being the man who replaced the man, but would he do better as the man who replaced the man who replaced the man who replaced the man? It’s literally hard to say.

Had he not managed Arsenal before, he would absolutely be an excellent candidate after his stellar work with Aston Villa but surely neither club nor Emery would want a repeat.

=4) Zinedine Zidane We will all rest easier when the former Real Madrid manager (x2) either retires or takes the France job. Why do we have to pretend that he is about to be parachuted into the Premier League?

=4) Marco Silva We like him, we really do. But it will be very hard to sell this to Arsenal fans as the necessary upgrade on Arteta.

=4) Xavi Hernandez Warming to the tried-and-tested Spanish midfielder theme, we come to Xavi. Went a bit tits up towards the end at Barcelona there, and nobody has rushed to snap him up since.

Feels like this has a high chance of both enormous success but also absolute catastrophe. Which doesn’t necessarily put us off the idea, but should maybe perturb Arsenal a bit.

=4) Antonio Conte An intriguing option because he really is the worst and best man for the job. He has won the Premier League title and a gaggle of Serie A titles so he absolutely knows how to win. He also absolutely knows how to fall out with pretty much everybody.

He also hates Tottenham, which can’t hurt.

3) Diego Simeone Absolutely yes, if only to see the reaction from the sweet summer children who think Arteta’s Arsenal are already top-tier Dark Arts Bastardos.

We’ve long suspected if anyone ever did manage to tempt him across from Spain that Simeone could bring the Barclays to its knees inside six months and, while that will admittedly be slightly harder now Jurgen Klopp is no longer here, it still feels doable.

2) Max Allegri We still just can’t quite see him in the Barclays. The man simply oozes Serie A and he’s got a very nice gig at AC Milan. We know Sir Alex thinks he’s good because he said so once many years ago but we’re increasingly unsure that’s particularly important now.

1) Simone Inzaghi Hugely successful with Inter, and a man who would look absolutely first rate in a club-crested Arsenal blazer. It’s a key part of being a top Arsenal manager and a conspicuous weakness of Arteta’s.

Although finishing as runner-up in both Serie A and the Champions League last season does suggest that if anything, Clive, he might almost be too Arsenal.

He is also now the manager of Al-Hilal but surely he will get bored of that nonsense.