Arsenal have confirmed the appointment of Unai Emery as the new head coach of the club.
The 46 year old Spaniard takes over from Arsene Wenger having lost his job with PSG at the end of last season.
His managerial career has taken him from Lorca Deportiva in Murcia to North London via spells at Almeria, Valencia, Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, and PSG.
He won three consecutive Europa League titles with Sevilla in 2014, 2015 and 2016, and in his two years in Paris he won a Ligue 1 title and four cups.
Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis said, “Unai has an outstanding track record of success throughout his career, has developed some of the best young talent in Europe and plays an exciting, progressive style of football that fits Arsenal perfectly.
“His hard-working and passionate approach and his sense of values on and off the pitch make him the ideal person to take us forward.
“We conducted a confidential, wide-ranging and rigorous search involving extensive background references, data and video analysis, and personal meetings with all the candidates we shortlisted.
“All were interested in the position and we were unanimous in our choice of Unai to drive the next chapter of our history.”
While Emery himself is delighted to take up what is going to be a challenging role as well as following in the footsteps of a long-term manager like Wenger.
“I am thrilled to be joining one of the great clubs in the game,” he said.
“Arsenal is known and loved throughout the world for its style of play, its commitment to young players, the fantastic stadium, the way the club is run. I’m very excited to be given the responsibility to start this important new chapter in Arsenal’s history.
“I have met Stan and Josh Kroenke and it’s clear they have great ambitions for the club and are committed to bringing future success.
“I’m excited about what we can do together and I look forward to giving everyone who loves Arsenal some special moments and memories.”
Hello Mr Emery, welcome to the Arsenal. We wish you every success.
Sounds a good choice. Good luck to him (and us).
Let’s hope he isn’t like his uncle, Dick.
Ooh. You are awful.
But i like him
See the link below. Great memories.
Happy with this! Onwards and upwards. C’mon the arsenal!
The protagonist!
The sound of that must hurt the ears of the “self acclaimed special one”
Welcome UE, but be prepared for a short honeymoon.
Frankly, I’m still getting over the addition of a sleeve sponsor.
Dafaq, our sleeves are not for sale. It shouldn’t go so far. We are good to go till we only sell our stadium’s name.
Still in shock here, over the George Graham sacking.
Anything that covers those ghastly pink hoops is welcome in my book.
UNAI EMERY´S RED AND WHITE ARMY !!!
I wanted a strong tactician, got a strong tactician. Not necessarily as exciting signing as Allegri would be, but now it´s time to get behind him.
Bring Rabiot in and I´m 200 % behind.
exactly. i think he a very good choice. very pragmatist , hands on appraoch with the players, know how to work on a tight budget and more importantly win something with that sort of budget , very strong tacticial , good motivator , known to improve many players , and more importantly have been known to bring through a host of young players even in a club that spends as much as psg. i know some of our fans wont like him because of how he threw away 4-0 lead against barca. but its unfair to him to point out… Read more »
I watched the highlights of that Barca match and the biasness of the referee was terrible. He gave some unbelievable decisions in favour of Barca who did their usual diving and play acting.
I much prefer Emery to Allegri. He is a tactician who plays exciting football. Allegri is just a tactician. Juve are not that fun to watch. Emery’s PSG, Valencia and Sevilla sides all played entertaining football.
I just hope he can convert that to English football. If he can he’ll not do too badly.
Who wouldn’t prefer to have Loki. We’d probably start using some bit of cunning and fancy tricks to leave our opponents is no doubt as to who’s who.
COYG!
Was just refreshing the .com staff page, and Wenger’s just disappeared. :,(
That’s devastating
https://www.arsenal.com/arsenal/staff/arsene-wenger
Heart broken a little bit inside. The last time I felt this was one a really hot girl left me
Feeling better and better about this appointment by the day.
Interesting to see the use of ‘head coach’ instead of manager…
“I have met Stan and Josh Kroenke and it’s clear they have great ambitions for the club and are committed to bringing future success.”
– He is already fibbing or doesn’t understand the intend of the Kroenkes.
He missed out the word ‘financial’ before success.
That’s all they care about.
What do you expect him to say on the official Arsenal website? I wouldn’t have taken the job if he didn’t like their views.
He has a long reputation for not rocking the ownership boat, so get used to it – and don’t think for a second that went unnoticed when they made the decision!
I’m not going to hold that against him. He also has a track record (PSG is a different animal) of making real lemonade out of what he’s got.
Welcome to the emeryates!
“Head Coach” eh?
After wenger’s departure was announced i wanted a meaner, more parsimonious manager to sort our inability to defend which is why i felt allegri would have been the best replacement. But Emery’s CV is not shabby at all. I prefer him to arteta because he has managed top teams. Lets Go Gunners.
Happy to get the ball rolling. Welcome Emery
Glad to see it confìrmed. Welcome aboard Mr Emery. Good luck to you.
Yeah very happy we’ve gone this direction. An intense football man who’s a serial winner.
Good luck to him
Glad we sorted this out quickly and I reckon we’ve got a decent manager (head coach) on our books. Hope he learns English quickly because that worries me a bit but the spuds manager did really well at Southampton and he couldn’t speak a word of English. Really feel that if we sort out our defence then we’ll definitely get top four next season. A Europa league win would be nice aswell
Welcome to arsenal and much luck on your way
As I understand it he speaks decent English, though I guess we’ll learn more in his press conference later. Regardless, He speaks French and Spanish fluently meaning he can talk to most of the core XI: Cech, Bellerin, Monreal, Koscielny, Mustafi, Xhaka, Ozil, Lacazette Aubameyang all speak french and/or spanish
Love your thourough linguistic insider info. Cech is such a renaissance man. Sadly I don’t think we’ll see Kos back in the starting 11.
Bellerin is a fine translator. Spanish to cockney and vice versa.
Unai’s English at the press conference earlier today wasn’t perfect, but was still good enough to let those scum bag journalists know that he’s no mug who can be taken advantage of, even though they tried their best to do so.
Unai’s English will improve in due course, just as I’m sure the performances of our team will too, next season.
Welcome to The Arsenal.
Hope he can reignite the passion that was lost in these few years…
Exciting times.
Welcome to the best club in the world!
Unai Emery’s Red and White Army!
i am super psyched about it.. for the first time in 22 years, we are heading into totally unknown waters and boy is it exciting.
the manager has my full support and i cant wait for the season to start. #COYG #WelcomeUnai #Arsenal
Blogs. All Dick Emery comments need to be deleted. It was just about funny 2 days ago.
I googled it and still don’t get it
He was a (very funny if you watched his TV shows when broadcast) comedian, died in 1983, here is a sample of his comedy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fl2irFk4qE
Blogs, please delete all comments calling for Dick Emery comments to be deleted.
Soyou don’t know who Dick Emery is then?in the discussion
Yeah, I think you are pissing in the wind if you think the Dick Emery comments are going anywhere chief. Sadly, the ‘Dick Emery Show’ theme tune wont make for a decent football song, it’s too choppy and complex. Clearly Stanley and Joshua didn’t consider that when making their selection. Pity.
Like many Allergri was my 1st choice but you don always get what you want in life and Emery is a good sound choice. Genuinely excited for the club for the first time in years. Hopefully the club back him in the transfer market as this teams needs a defence among other things, if not then this will fall squarely on Gazizdis and he will have no where and no one to hide behind like he did with wenger. We will now see if the club has the ambitions it says it does, back him and watch him succeed, penny… Read more »
It looked like Jardim and Allegri weren’t available and PSG had an agreement with Tuchel in January. Very risky choice for PSG but we were smart to take advantage.
Pellegrini, who I thought didn’t get enough credit for that Aguerooooo title, will be back in the Premier League next year and Sarri might end up at Chelsea.
The competition next season is going to be mad.
I’m excited. Welcome aboard boss!
With the name ’emery’ hopefully he will bring a bit more grit to the team
Another great thing with appointing Emery thats rarely brought up is that he might want to sign some PSG players to take along with him to play for Arsenal. Draxler? Rabiot?
Anyway, here’s to a new start.
We’re definitely going to qualify for CL now, whether it’s through league standing or winning the UEFA cup since we’ve brought in the specialist in this competition
A sensible choice given our circumstances.
Something to look forward to.
Arsenal Fan TV did their job already? #EmeryOut
Welcome to the Arsenal, Unai.
Arsenal is a tough nut to crack
Rebuilding, season targets, strategy, tactics, handling fan pressure. …
I hear you say that’s what all managers have to deal with. True. But Arsenal’s standard and demands are high.
If he can fix it… on a consistent basis, then fine and great
All the best to Emery. Welcome to the club.
“We conducted a confidential, wide-ranging and rigorous search”
Translation: We are not going to answer any questions about Arteta.
Welcome to The Arsenal, Mr Emery! There’s a big task ahead but sounds like you’re the man for the job. Good luck!
#EmeryOut
Club ask some candidates for interviews…
Those who didn’t get an interview sound-off their disappoint at the club…
Those interviewed tell agents that it went well, and they expect to get job…
Arsenal appoint person who impressed most to the postition.
Let’s cut the dick jokes. Good Luck Unai
UTA!
From all I’ve read and seen, I think this is a top move.
Mickey Mouse FC
‘I have met Stan and Josh Kroenke and it’s clear they have great ambitions for the club……. without spending a single fucking penny’……
No choice but to get behind the man. Unai, make me a believer again.
Treble awaits!!!!!
There may trebles ahead, but while there’s world cup and transfers and some new bloke from France, let’s play some football and dance
Welcome!
Emery knows best
Anyone else think he looks like a Spanish Gary Neville?
It’s been fun but my Arsenal supporting days are over. I’m still a fan but I won’t be watching any more. My heart was with Wenger and what he brought. The barren was was sad and it’s necessary he goes. Of course. But Emery? I’m done. Thanks for the memories Arsenal, what a ride!
Glad to be departed from ur fan services,u wont be missed for sure.
Board, Mr. Emery. Mr..Emery, Board.. ?
I wish US success. He’s one of us now!
Lets face it, last season wasn’t much fun at all and now we can at least enjoy the prospect of much needed change being put to the test. Get behind Emery, cut out the “Dick Emery” remarks, because this is a serious coach who will shake up the comfort zone at the Emirates and hopefully rebuild us in the right direction. Years of stagnation are over at last. We can all move forward with some optimism now.
Blogs? What kind of nanny state are you running here?! I just got a notice “you’re posting to quickly, slow down!”
Damn.
What a wonderful choice, he will bring arsenal back to champion league competition and make arsenal a strong team to watch.
I’ll add my welcome to those above. Good to have you aboard, Unai!
I’m happy and relieved to read the generally very positive comments above. I agree, it looks like we have an exciting, forward-looking manager with an impressive record, who will buy in to the Arsenal style. Wish him all the best.
A warm welcome to the new head coach and hope for plenty of success with the team . What should now become clear when reading the media , and blogs and websites is that the most widely believed narrative and consensus is not always the correct one . Until yesterday , all the media and pundits had peddled the Arteta narrative and were banging the drum . Logic and rationality did not seem to matter . strong candidates with a track record such as Emery ,and even an ex player like Patrick Vieira were not considered worthy of the media’s… Read more »
#BienvenidoUnai