ARSENAL LEGEND ROBERT PIRES WANTS TO COACH

Robert Pires has extended his offer of help for the next Arsenal manager. The Highbury legend has remained close to the club through the years and has been seeking a more official capacity in recent years.

Pires was a close ally of outgoing manager Arsene Wenger and he believes his experience would be helpful to the next manager, whoever it is. He was also in contention for the role of sporting director but Sven Mislintat got the job. He remains an ambassador of the club but believes as a former player and having worked closely to the first team he could really do a lot more.

“Arsenal have recently had a new sporting director from Dortmund, which for me is not a problem, I respect the decision. But I think that some ex-players can help Arsenal. We know the high level and we won some titles. If I can give some advice for the players, it would be good,” he said.
The 44-year old has not hidden his intention to get a close role to the club and be more involved in the day to day running. According to him the club’s chief executive Ivan Gazidis is aware of this interest. Pires made the bold call for Patrick Vieira to be the replacement for Arsene Wenger.
He said Vieira had a small advantage over the leading candidate MikelArteta. He opined that Luis Enrique and Carlo Ancelotti are likely options if the club wanted a coach with experience but that Vieira and Arteta were the options if Arsenal wanted to begin a new project.
Pires believes the former Arsenal midfielder has learned a lot under Guardiola but believes Vieira still has a slight edge over Arteta due to the long time he spent at the club and his good profile in the eye of the fans.