Unai Emery knows what he must do to keep his job at Arsenal
To some degree, it was guesswork what the club would do if Unai Emery missed out on Champions League football. Now, we know exactly what will happen if the Spaniard fails to deliver this season.
Arsenal’s Head of Football Raul Sanllehi, speaking at a fans’ forum on Thursday night, made the situation crystal clear.
‘We said to Unai that we just missed out on qualifying for the Champions League last year, but this year with a stronger squad, we expect you to do that.’ confirmed Sanllehi.
Obviously, he has not said that Emery would be fired, no one would say that but the meaning is absolutely clear. Top-four football or you are out.
It seems to me that this is a reasonable and fair stance taken by Sanllehi. He is 100% correct to state that there is now a stronger squad and top-four is expected.
Emery was given a two-year contract and he has that time to turn Arsenal back into a Champions League club. Emery failed in his first season, he literally had qualification in his hands before he and the players blew it.
As things stand right now, Emery is doing just fine, there are issues for sure but he is handling it all well. But there is not too much room for manoeuvre. It really is case of delivering the goods or taking a walk out the door.
Sanllehi may not have wanted to pile on the pressure but that is exactly what he has done.