On Monday, The Athletic published a shortlist of managers who Arsenal had to replace Arsene Wenger in the summer of 2018.
The story claimed the club, who ended up picking Unai Emery, also had the Argentine coach Jorge Sampaoli among their options.
The South America media has obviously been covering these claims, and it turns out that one outlet managed to confirm it.
Brazilian website UOL writes that according people linked to the manager, there was a ‘spectacular’ meeting between him and the London club.
But Sampaoli could only think of the World Cup, which was his first in charge of Argentina. And that of course didn’t go very well.
It’s not made it clear if his ‘head on the World Cup’ had any influence in the negotiations, or if he was one of Arsenal’s first options in that list.
Sampaoli took charge of Santos in January this year, and has been doing well in the league, currently in third position, despite not having a great team.
There are many doubts about his stay at the club for next year, especially because he’s asking for bigger investment for the new season so he can fight for titles. According to Goal today, a La Liga club has just made an approach for his signing.
