Why Unai Emery could be Mr Right Now for post-Wenger Arsenal

Getting through to Arsenal’s best players will govern how well he does but the Spaniard has the drive and work ethic to succeed in north London

For Arsenal fans who spent almost as long fantasising over a blockbuster appointment of a new head coach as they did counting down the days to the end of the Arsene Wenger era, their current state of spirit might be more sober than they had hoped. The arrival of Unai Emery, recently departed from Paris Saint-Germain and announced on Wednesday morning, provides them with a recognised name but not quite with an elite one.

In terms of signalling in a genuinely new chapter, there can be few complaints. What they will be getting is a coach who is fully committed and, in his approach to preparation, a startling break from what they have been used to. If Wenger’s twilight years at the club produced a team that often appeared under-coached, then the reign of Emery will be the exact opposite. The 46-year-old Basque is well-known for bombarding his players with video footage, both in group sessions and in individually-prepared packages, so much so that “I ran out of popcorn” as Joaquín, who enjoyed a successful spell with him at Valencia, famously quipped.

Emery is a coach that was always destined to be one, an obsessive thinker about the game who led Lorca to promotion to the Segunda A six months after taking his first lead coaching role, having been forced to quit playing for the same club with a knee problem. He had been appointed with the aim of steering Lorca away from relegation trouble and got them promoted instead. By the time he led Almería to a first-ever promotion to the top flight in 2007, he had the Spanish game’s attention.

Emery left PSG with many regrets (Getty)

These feats may be in the past now but they’re as relevant a place as any to start for those who want to get a handle on what Emery is all about. Any notion one has of only judging a coach on his last job needs to be thrown out the window here. If Arsenal’s transfer budget for his debut summer is as relatively limited as has been suggested, Emery’s ability to work with what he has could be very useful.

Don’t be fooled by the fact he’s leaving PSG and their almost bottomless coffers. The rest of his career has been spent with one eye on the purse strings, from the summer of 2010 when David Villa and David Silva left his Valencia team (Los Che made a €50 million net profit on transfer fees between seasons, but Emery still guided them to another third-placed finish) to his years of planning and plotting in league with Monchi at Sevilla, constantly rebuilding his squad.

The list of players he has helped to develop is impressive. Juan Mata, Jordi Alba, Ivan Rakitic and Vitolo are among those who made huge strides from good to great under Emery’s guidance. He even got Éver Banega on the straight and narrow, coaxing career-best form out of a midfielder long since assumed to have let his talent slip through his fingers.

Emery is a football obsessive with the work ethic to succeed at the Emirates (AFP)

That was part of the problem in Paris, as those skills weren’t so needed, with a culture of success, dressing room power and a way of doing things already established at Camp des Loges. Popular legend may decree that his problems in Paris were about dealing with egos – and specifically the clash over penalty-taking duty between Neymar and Edinson Cavani, who he invited to “sort it out between themselves” – but convincing a group of serial winners to embrace a less possession-led, more reactive game was the unsurmountable challenge.

If there’s going to be a culture shock for Arsenal, Emery’s preferred playing style will be at the heart of it. His predilection for a 4-2-3-1 shape is not an alien one but his teams tend to be reactive. Fan frustration grew at Valencia over the years, despite a trio of top three finishes, with his team’s inability to take the risks needed to go further. At Sevilla, his recipe led the side to a record-breaking three straight Europa League titles, but at the expense of a talented squad being largely inert in La Liga.

A natural counter-attacker Emery should have little problem fitting in in the Premier League (Getty)

The upside is that counter-attack has been at the heart of the Premier League over the last few seasons, so Emery should have little problem fitting in – and playing on the break should get the best out of players like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. When players adhere to his plan, the results can be excellent.

Emery’s tenure in Paris will always be associated with the humiliating Champions League capitulation in Barcelona in March 2017, the remontada in which PSG fell to pieces in a 6-1 defeat to persistent, rather than stellar opposition. What’s often forgotten (understandably, given the context) in that sorry episode is just how good PSG were in their 4-0 first leg victory over the Catalan giants. It was their best performance in Europe for decades. Those are the standards to which Arsenal can aspire.

Clearly getting through to Arsenal’s best players will govern the success or failure of his time in north London. He has a reputation for struggling to hold some players’ attention with his regimented approach, and Neymar complained to management about his film seances, but he had the respect of Kylian Mbappé, and played a significant part in persuading the teenager to return to the French capital rather than joining Real Madrid.

Long-term, maybe Emery isn’t Mr Right for Arsenal, but he could be Mr Right Now. Little more can be asked at this point as they step into the unknown post-Wenger.