How Unai Emery Wowed Arsenal's Chiefs in His Interview to Become Manager
After 22 years of Arsene Wenger sitting in the Arsenal hotseat, the Frenchman has finally passed the torch, with former Paris Saint-Germain boss Unai Emery taking up the reigns at the Emirates.
An extensive and meticulous recruitment process saw the likes of Luis Enrique, Massimiliano Allegri and Mikel Arteta all linked as Wenger's successor; however, after much consideration by the Arsenal chiefs, they elected to appoint Emery as the new Gunners boss.
Although the decision was met with a mixed reception from Arsenal fans, the figures behind the decision are clearly certain the Spaniard is the man to take the North London club forwards.
Many cite his obsessive attention to detail as a reason he will fail in the Premier League, with anecdotes emerging of the Spaniard giving his players USB sticks full of tactical analysis to watch throughout his time with Valencia.
However, Emery's track record throughout his tenure in Paris speaks for itself, with BT Sport present Jake Humphrey perfectly surmising the new Arsenal boss' pedigree. Taking to Twitter, Humphrey spoke very highly of Emery, writing: "I assume the negativity towards Emery is ignorance? Want an experienced winner? Five major trophies in three years at PSG.
"Want youth? He's 46. Same as [Mauricio] Pochettino and [Sean] Dyche. Younger than Pep [Guardiola], [Jurgen] Klopp, [Antonio] Conte, Jose [Mourinho]."
Such statistics surely place Emery amongst the upper echelons of managers in world football, thereby leaving Wenger's legacy in North London in safe hands.
However, with former Arsenal midfielder Arteta seemingly destined for the vacant managerial role at the Emirates just less than a week ago, what was it that caused such a dramatic U-turn?
Arsenal chiefs, as reported by The Sun, held a secret meeting with Emery last week, whereby he allegedly blew them away with his expansive knowledge and grandiose plans to take Arsenal forward.
In the meeting, which was led by Ivan Gazidis, Raul Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat, the Spaniard displayed a presentation whereby he gave a forensic analysis on every single current Arsenal player.
Furthermore, he explained in great detail exactly how he would improve each player and identified the tow players he would build his squad around, those being Aaron Ramsey and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
A source said: "He knew more about the Arsenal squad and every relevant detail about their career path and injury histories than people who had been at the club for years."
Whether that pays off and validates Arsenal's decision, only time will tell.
