Now the dust is beginning to sell on Arsene Wenger announcing his Arsenal exit, the mood of sentiment can turn to one of hope, excitement and maybe a little fear.
What, and specifically who, happens next?
Arsenal have already been linked with a string of favourites and various names are pushed forward helping bookmakers to hedge their bets. The more managers spend a period as one of the favourites, and have people betting on them, then the less exposure there is to a big betting loss.
One of the men who has been there all along is Luis Enrique. For months the Catalan media have been reporting that Arsenal are keen on Enrique, and they’ve reminded everyone about this over the past few days.
With Catalonia wanting everyone to know they had the story first (which can be argued for or against), it’s being picked up elsewhere too, and now L’Equipe have a take.
They don’t make it entirely clear this is their own information, but they don’t say otherwise so we’d have to assume it is. The French newspaper claim Raul Sanllehi has been talking to Enrique for ‘several days’.
Negotiations between Arsenal and Enrique are said to be going well, and that leads L’Equipe to state the manager is now the Gunners’ priority.L’Equipe clearly haven’t lost their Arsenal love after the Wenger announcement, and say: ‘Enrique appreciates the philosophy of Arsenal and the values that this club conveys.’
Carlo Ancelotti, Patrick Vieira and Leonardo Jardim are stated as other considerations, but only if the Luis Enrique track fails.
