Can Arsenal get its succession plan right? Here are the main contenders for the job

Thomas Tuchel

Brendan Rodgers

Rodgers has rebuilt his reputation at Celtic, where he is on course to win the Scottish domestic treble for the second straight season.

Carlo Ancelotti

Whenever a vacancy arises at a top European club, the 58-year-old Ancelotti’s name is mentioned — and for good reason.

Patrick Vieira

Favourite with British bookmakers, Vieira was one of Wenger’s first signings and went on to become one of Arsenal’s greatest ever players.

assembled almost, it seems, behind Wenger’s back. He has, until now, stood Canute-like against this sea of change even if he has not been impervious to what has been going on. The architect of the reorganisation has been Ivan Gazidis, the Chief Executive, who saw what happened at Manchester United when Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. Crucially, their Chief Executive, David Gill, left at the same time, leaving a vacuum. United are still paying the price for not have the right structure to deal with Ferguson going. It was less about succession planning, but rather organising the club Leonardo Jardim

An outside bet, but Jardim’s stock is up after he turned Monaco into a French champion and a Champions League semi-finalist. Luis Enrique

so they could cope when such a dominant character left and, also, if whoever took over did not work out. When Ferguson left United, the intellectual property of the club also departed and it has been a long, expensive and painful re-build since then. Arsenal need to avoid that even if it can be argued that success for Wenger’s successor will be less than what was demanded of whoever followed on from Ferguson. Sensibly, Gazidis has attempted to head off that instability.