‘Absolute mess’ at Arsenal could scupper move to make Mikel Arteta next manager

The Spanish coach is seen as the front-runner to succeed Unai Emery and returns to the Emirates with Man City desperate to bounce back

When Mikel Arteta returns to Arsenal this Sunday, there’ll be a few knowing nods, a few longer handshakes.

Many in the hierarchy are hoping Manchester City’s visit on Sunday won’t be his only trip back this season. Sources say Arteta remains favourite for the job, and one of the most popular candidates at the top of the club... but they still plan to persist with a wide interview process.

That alone illustrates a crucial indecision at Arsenal right now. There is not really much clarity at any level of this process, least of all about how to get their main man.

People deeply familiar with how the current hierarchy works say a huge problem is a lack of clarity about who is actually in charge, and so many competing voices from Raul Sanllehi to Edu. Some in particular talk of Sanllehi “trying to please too many different people”.

Others just describe what is currently an “absolute mess” with “no clear direction”.

This has meant they have returned to a recurring problem, both at Arsenal, and in the wider Premier League. They are one of a few who don’t really know what they want to be, and thereby don’t know exactly what type of manager they want. That is something that has become chronic in the Premier League, and why those like Liverpool and Leicester City are having such impact. It is similarly why there is seemingly this great gap between a liking for Arteta and an absolute will to just go and get him.

A club with a proper structure in these lines would be so much sharper.

They are instead again set to speak to a host of different profiles, from Arteta and Patrick Vieira to Max Allegri. More than a few, however, have expressed reservations about the Arsenal structure.

It is the lack of coherence that has led to what sources describe as a situation where the club are increasingly “agent-influenced”. Hence Vitor Pereira was suddenly given consideration this week, although he was admittedly fairly quickly ruled out. More than one top candidate, meanwhile, has just ruled out the job. That emphasises Arsenal’s drop in standing, which is the wider context to this.

Arteta is seen as the favourite to succeed Unai Emery (Getty)

The pursuit is set to go on for some time. If it does, many sources maintain that Freddie Ljungberg will be given the job until the end of the season, with the chance to impress. There is some hope that he could prove an Arteta figure in his own right.

Ljungberg has indeed impressed players and figures at the club, although there have also been quips about a certain ego, and “checking out his cheekbones in reflective surfaces”.

Arsenal need a mirror held up to the club. They need direction and a clear idea.

Ljungberg is still trying to figure that out on the pitch, with the patched-together nature of the squad proving another manifestation of the problems.

Arsenal do run a certain danger right now, beyond getting badly beaten by a vengeful City this week. There’s also what is a concertinaed Premier League. The sense of indirection at the club is now so deep that there are no longer quite the same guarantees they can arrest it and just secure what they would see as their rightful place in the big six – let alone the big four. The threat is they could drift further, something that seems entirely in-keeping with this airy and light-touch football. They need decisiveness. That may not mean they automatically need Arteta. But they do need to come to a call.