Arsenal official among ‘serious candidates’ for national role – Would bring ‘necessary know-how and experience’

Arsenal chief Per Mertesacker is being eyed up by Germany as they look at several candidates to replace the departed Olivier Bierhoff.

That’s according to Sky Sports Germany, who say the Arsenal man could be brought into the national set up as part of a new look organisation following their failure at the World Cup.

Bierhoff recently resigned from the DFB after 18 years in managing director job, shouldering the blame for the country’s failure to make it out of the group stages in Qatar.

That ‘embarrassing’ performance has led to big questions being asked in Germany, with Bierhoff unlikely to be the only one to lose his job.

Replacing him is currently the primary task for Bernd Neuendorf and vice-president Hans-Joachim Watzke, though, and they are considering distributing his position among several people.

That’s led to two ‘serious candidates’ being looked at, Thomas Hitzlsperger and Arsenal’s Per Mertesacker.

The former would be the hot candidate to take up Bierhoff’s role with the national team while Mertesacker would be focused on the development of young German talent.

That’s a role he would be accustomed to have been in charge of Arsenal’s academy since his retirement in 2018.

That is crucial as the DFB want to bring in people who have the ‘necessary know-how and experience’ rather than people who would be changing careers.