IT’S ALL GUNN WRONG
Leeds eye Stock take
LEEDS are keen to sign keeper David Stockdale from Birmingham in January.
The 34-year-old has made only one appearance for the Blues this season, in the EFL Cup, and would add plenty of experience to the goalkeeping group as backup to Kiko Casilla.
Bailey Peacock-farrell left Elland Road for Burnley in the summer for £3.5million and with several talented youngsters at the club, boss Marcelo Bielsa didn’t recruit a replacement.
However, he is now considering a move for Stockdale in the new year and the keeper would welcome the change.
UNAI EMERY has one month to save his job at Arsenal – but there is a belief inside the club that sacking the Spaniard will not solve the crisis at the Emirates.
Emery was given a vote of confidence by Gunners head of football Raul Sanllehi in the aftermath of the 2-0 defeat at Leicester last week which saw them slump to sixth in the Premier League after a run of just two wins from 10 games.
But his fate will be decided by Premier League games against Southampton, Norwich, Brighton and West Ham – as well as the visit of Manchester City on December 15.
Arsenal must also negotiate Europa League ties against Eintracht Frankfurt and Standard Liege during that period.
But some staff fear that Emery now faces an impossible task to revive a club that has lost its heart and soul since Arsene Wenger’s near 22-year reign came to an end. Wenger transformed the Gunners by building on traditional Highbury virtues with the innovative methods he imported from abroad.
Just 18 months after leaving the club, insiders claim the Frenchman’s legacy has been destroyed by a string of disastrous high-level appointments.
Herald
One source said: “The DNA that made Arsenal the club it was has slowly but surely drained away. Appointments have been made – both before and after Wenger’s departure – that either didn’t work out or aren’t working out.
“Long-serving members of staff have been shocked by what’s happening.”
Bringing in former midfielder Edu in the summer to work as technical director alongside Sanllehi and academy manager Per Mertesacker was supposed to herald a new beginning.
But all of Wenger’s most trusted people have now left.
And Emery has found himself struggling to stabilise the club on the pitch as Arsenal undergo their biggest upheaval since Wenger first arrived back in September 1996.
Steve Morrow, the former midfielder who was Arsenal’s highly-respected head of youth recruitment, was the highestprofile casualty of a major clearout rubber-stamped b y Edu and Mertesacker earlier this month.
Our insider added: “To say it was a shock to see so many good people leave so suddenly is an understatement.
“Steve Morrow, in particular, is a huge loss.
“He is someone who is respected throughout football and is seen as having the potential to be a director of football.”
Chief scout Steve Rowley, the man who unearthed a succession of top talents for the Gunners over the course of more than 30 years, was forced out of the club two years ago by then- chief executive Ivan Gazidis.
Gazidis himself left the Emirates last year to become chief football officer at AC Milan. His departure saw Sanllehi promoted to his current role. The former director of football at Barcelona had arrived at Arsenal 12 months earlier as Head of Football Relations.
But it has not gone well for Gazidis in Milan. Last month the 55- year- old was accused by angry supporters of “destroying” the club after boss Marco Giampaolo was sacked.
Arsenal fans also have reasons to be unhappy with Gazidis.
Former Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta was in pole position to succeed Wenger, after furthering his coaching expertise under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
But, with City braced for an official approach, Gazidis suddenly turned to Emery instead. Gazidis also got his way when Andries Jonker arrived as Academy director in 2014. The Dutchman was an unmitigated failure.
German Sven Mislintat lasted just 14 months after being made Head of Scouting in 2017. He was part of a three-man panel that also included Gazidis and Sanllehi which voted to bring in former Sevilla boss Emery.
Gazidis’s belief that the club should invest in data specialists also led to the appointment of Hendrik Almstadt as Head of Technical Data. The German shared Gazidis’s view that top players could be identified by compiling statistical databases.
But Wenger was unconvinced by Almstadt’s methods and he left after five unsuccessful years.
When Huss Fahmy was brought in to handle player contracts in 2017 it prompted the departure of Dick Law, another Wenger confidant.
Emery is the man in the firing line now. But unless Arsenal’s decline is reversed quickly, the pressure will mount on Sanllehi and those he has surrounded himself with since taking power.
Unai Emery has struggled to stabilise the club as Arsenal undergo biggest upheaval since Wenger arrived in 1996