5 dark horse candidates to replace Arsene Wenger

2. Manuel Pellegrini, Hebei China Fortune

How serious are Arsenal about maintaining the values Wenger has left ingrained in the club? The Gunners should be as serious as it gets about continuing a fidelity to building through youth and winning while playing attractive soccer.

Manuel Pellegrini has managed to do the latter wherever he’s been, all with the understated dignity Wenger usually conducted himself with in north London. It’s why Arsenal fans should welcome reports from Chilean publication La Cuarta (h/t Sport Witness) the club have already been in contact.

Pellegrini and his gentlemanly approach brought calm to City’s “noisy neighbors” image after the fractious end of Roberto Mancini’s tenure. Out went a malcontent Mario Balotelli and in came a quiet professionalism the club coveted as they bid to be taken seriously among the game’s elite.

Pellegrini took what Mancini had done in the sky blue half of Manchester and improved it. The 64-year-old’s 2013-14 title winners scored 102 goals and played a brand of slick, inventive soccer Pep Guardiola’s champions have only slightly bettered this season.

Just like Guardiola, Pellegrini accompanied his title with a League Cup triumph. Unlike Guardiola, the Chilean took City further in the competition their mega-rich owners likely value the most.

City were in a Champions League semifinal on Pellegrini’s watch in 2016, narrowly losing 1-0 on aggregate to eventual winners Real Madrid. The Citizens did at least book a return to Europe’s top club tournament by finishing fourth ahead of local rivals United.

Pellegrini had already added another League Cup after beating Liverpool on penalties. The win put him into a select group in City’s history, per Sky Sports Statto:

The fact he won a trophy, reached a Champions League semifinal and finished in the top four during a season when City had already announced Guardiola would replace him that summer, spoke volumes about Pellegrini’s ability to keep players motivated and handle difficult situations.

Managing a crisis has always been a strength. He did so at Malaga when, after guiding the club into the Champions League in 2012, the financial resources abruptly disappeared.

It meant Pellegrini was forced to sell his best players cheap, including Santi Cazorla to Arsenal. Without Cazorla, Nacho Monreal, Salomon Rondon, Joris Mathijsen and Ruud van Nistelrooy, Pellegrini still took Malaga as far as the quarterfinals, where they met Borussia Dortmund.

Only questionable use, or non-use, of the offside flag prevented Malaga from beating the team which would eventually contest the final. This was all while Pellegrini’s players weren’t even paid some weeks. Remarkable.

A similar word applies to the work Pellegrini did at Villarreal. He took the tiny, modestly funded club to a Champions League semifinal in 2006. Ironically, the Yellow Submarine were beaten by Wenger-led Arsenal.

Still, Villarreal had captured the imaginations of many thanks to a fluid side built around raiding left-back Rodolfo Arruabarrena, midfield enforcer Marcos Senna and elegant playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme.

Three years later, Villarreal were in the last eight, beaten again by Arsenal and Wenger. Riquelme had gone, but Pellegrini had redesigned his team around Cazorla’s ambidextrous artistry and the snarling intensity of fearsome center-back Diego Godin.

Like Wenger, Pellegrini adores a game based on daring and creativity. His 4-2-4 formation promises goals, as it surely would for Aubameyang and Co. in north London.

Meanwhile, his fondness for inverted wingers would help fit Mkhitaryan, Ozil and Aaron Ramsey into the same starting XI without the problems of balance Wenger has encountered.

Pellegrini’s talent for producing teams built to excite is best summed up by this stat from his City days:

More than any numbers, his ability to quietly go about his work regardless of financial issues, doubts about his future or sky high expectations, makes him the steady hand Arsenal need to ensure a smooth post-Wenger transition.