It may not have been confirmed yet but it would appear that the Arsenal management are nearly certain to appoint Mikel Arteta as Arsene Wenger’s successor, and they also seem keen on gathering a coaching team of former Arsenal heroes.
Wenger already had Steve Bould in place as his assistant and Jens Lehmann came in to coach last year as well. Per Mertesacker is set to take over the youth squad training. There is also talk of Santi Cazorla staying on to help Arteta, and now Robert Pires is also keen to join the coaching team as well.
“If the next manager wants my help, I will say yes,” Pires said. “I want to help Arsenal and I want to help the new manager. I want to be on the staff. I think I can help. It is an option for me and I hope it is an option for Arsenal.
“Arsenal have recently had a new sporting director from [Borussia] Dortmund [Sven Mislintat], which for me is not a problem, I respect the decision.
“But I think that some ex-players can help Arsenal. We know the high level and we won some titles.
“If I can give some advice for the players, it would be good.”
I personally think it is a great idea to bring in a team of coaches that have been used to winning trophies with Arsenal to inspire our youngsters to emulate that success. Pires definitely fits that mold, and how about bringing in the unemployed Denis Bergkamp and maybe Thierry Henry as well?
Sam P