Chris, a non-Gunner writes his thoughts about Ancelotti’s recent sacking and why he feels Arsenal should be his next port of call.
[divide margin_top=”10″ margin_bottom=”10″]
Carlo Ancelotti is one of the best football managers of all time and a legend of the game, but at the moment he is without a job.
That’s because the Italian tactician was sacked as the Bayern Munich head coach in late September. Bayern’s start to the 2017-18 Bundesliga campaign was far from impressive, and then came the 3-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain away from home at Parc des Princes in Paris in the Champions League. Given that the Bavarian giants had failed to make a notable impact in Europe’s premier club competition last season under Ancelotti, it was almost inevitable that the former Real Madrid head coach would get the sack at the Allianz Arena.
This is the not the first time that Ancelotti has been sacked; he was dismissed at Chelsea despite guiding the Blues to a Premier League and FA Cup double in his first season at Stamford Bridge. Managers getting sacked is part and parcel of the game and is now pretty much commonplace in football, and losing his job at Bayern should not affect Ancelotti’s credentials at all. The former AC Milan and PSG coach has already said that he will not manage a club until next season, and it will be interesting to see where he next goes to.
Arsene Wenger was recently given a two-year contract by the North London club, but Ancelotti seems a better tactician than the Frenchman, and the Gunners should do everything they can to lure the Italian to the Emirates Stadium. Fans are not happy with Wenger, and given that it is highly unlikely that the Gunners will win the league title this season – they are 25/1 to do so according to latest Premier League betting odds – the Emirates faithful are not going to completely embrace the 67-year-old anytime soon.
It would make sense for Arsenal to strike a deal with Ancelotti to take over from Wenger in the summer as early as possible. Wenger could move to the boardroom level or perhaps even retire. A top-four finish in the Premier League this season would set it up nicely for Ancelotti to launch a title challenge with the Gunners during the 2018-19 campaign. There are some wonderful players at Arsenal, such as Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez, Alexandre Lacazette and Petr Cech, and Ancelotti would attract more such world-class footballers to Arsenal. After all, James Rodriguez went to Bayern only because of the Italian tactician, and now that he has been sacked, the Colombia international attacker wants to return to his parent club Real Madrid.
Arsenal need to act fast if they want to secure the services of Ancelotti. A number of top clubs could look at the Italian at the end of the season. There are suggestions that Antonio Conte could leave Chelsea next summer, Liverpool fans are getting impatient with Jurgen Klopp, and Unai Emery is under immense pressure to deliver the Champions League at PSG. All these clubs and perhaps more would be looking at Ancelotti at the end of the season, and Arsenal cannot wait that long to make their move.