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Gazidis reveals why ‘impressive’ Emery was selected to replace Arsene Wenger

Arsenal chairman has revealed the reasons why Unai Emery was the clubs first choice candidate to replace Arsene Wenger.

Arsene Wenger announced that he would be ending his 22 year stint in charge of the Gunners last month, and almost ever since, speculation has persisted regarding his successor.

There have been plenty of names linked with replacing the Frenchman, including Max Allegri, Mikel Arteta, and Thierry Henry, but it is the former Sevilla and PSG coach who has been selected.

After revealing that the Gunners three man panel drew up an eight man shortlist, Ivan Gazidis explained the reasons Emery was selected.

“Why Unai Emery? I have followed Unai’s career very closely since his days at Valencia, and he has always been on my radar screen.

“He has a fantastic record of success where he has gone, and interestingly, one of the most noteworthy things about Unai’s teams are that they improve over time.

“We also felt that he is a superb fit with the criteria that I laid out. I think that it is very important to move this beyond a paper exercise which is why having taken third person references from some of the most respected people in the game and people that we trust, it was very important fo us to move to personal meetings, and it was in the personal meeting that Unai was impressive.

“He came in extraordinarily well prepared, with a detailed knowledge of Arsenal Football Club and had an analysis to share with us, not just of his ways of working and coaching, but he had an analysis of all of our individual players, their qualities, and how he believes he can help them to develop individually and collectively in detail.

“He also had in-depth knowledge of our off the field team, and how they could contribute, and how Unai’s team would mesh with them productively.

“This wasn’t a purely technical exercise. I think the thing that distinguished Unai above all of the process, was the chemistry between us and the feeling for football in the room.

“Unai has an energy, a passion, a competitive energy, and it is this combination of detail, hard work, passion, love for football, and a will to win, that made us feel that it was exactly right for Arsenal, and exactly right for the people we have working for the club.

“It is for all of those reasons, and all of that extensive process, I am proud and delighted to introduce to you today to Unai Emery.”

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