Freddie Ljungberg reveals restriction placed on him by Arsenal.
Freddie Ljungberg does not have the same level of backroom support that Unai Emery enjoyed when the Spaniard was the manager.
Ljungberg has managed one win from his first four games but he has led the side to two unbeaten games ahead of their hosting of Manchester City.
Ljungberg has been assisted by Per Mertasecker since he became the first team manager and he has revealed that the club hasn’t permitted him to bring in his own backroom staff.
Arsenal are hoping to name a new permanent manager soon and many fans thought that Ljungberg was in the running for the position, but his latest admission appears to show that the club doesn’t intend to keep him in the hot seat for long.
He claims that Arsenal has asked him to hold off with plans of getting additional help until they make a decision which could take some time.
“That’s up to the club,” he replied when asked if he had made any decisions regarding backroom staff.
“The club have said I have to wait until they make a decision, so yeah, I can’t do anything at the moment. I have Per but at the same time he is academy manager but he is helping me with the coaching.
“The club has said when they make a decision then that’s it or I’m obviously leaving or maybe then we can do something with the staff. But it’s up to the club.
“If you look at the person who was here before, he had a lot of staff and maybe I don’t have so many. So if you keep on going like that for months and months, it’s not so easy. But that’s totally up to the club.”
It has to be said that this is quite ominous for the Swede. If there was any intention of the club even considering Freddie they would have surely given him as much help as he requests.
It is understandable why the board are holding fire on new appointments, especially if they have to let them go in the event they opt against hiring Ljungberg full time.
That said, it is a shame for Freddie that he is not been given this opportunity on a level playing field.