Cooper is Swans man
Emery calls in all his Gunners for appraisal
UNAI EMERY conducted an end-of-season review with EVERY member of Arsenal’s first team squad.
Gunners boss Emery hauled all the players in for an individual appraisal at the club’s Hertfordshire training ground at London Colney.
It is understood he has done a similar process at previous clubs but it came as a shock to some members of the Arsenal squad.
They were all called back in over the days after the Europa League final (right) and before they went off on holiday or joined up for international duty.
Arsenal are ready to listen to offers for several players such as STEVE COOPER has been handed his first big break in senior football by becoming Swansea City’s head coach.
The former Premier League club, who lost Graham Potter to Brighton last month after only a year in charge, have given the Mesut Ozil, Shkodran Mustafi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan as they look to shake up their squad.
But Mirror Sport understands none of them was told they had no future at the club – and Emery offered encouragement as the reality is that all may still be at the Emirates next season.
Emery has already shaken up his backroom staff, with Aussie director of high performance Darren Burgess being moved on.
Arsenal legend Freddie Ljungberg could also step up to 39-year-old Welshman a three-year contract. He will effectively become the club’s 10th boss in five turbulent years.
Pontypridd-born Cooper (right), who guided England’s Under-17 team to World Cup glory, is joined by Mike Marsh as his No.2. the first team with Steve Bould keen to do more hands-on coaching and a return to working with the Under-23s could be on the cards.
Arsenal are out of the Champions League for a third season running and that severely limits their spending power in the transfer market, with a box-tobox midfielder and wide forward a priority.
But they may have to offload defenders before bringing in a significant signing to bolster the back four.
They have been heavily linked with Belgian winger Yannick Carrasco from Chinese club Dalian Yifang but have got Bournemouth’s Ryan Fraser higher up their list of targets and the Scotland international only has one year left on his deal.