Unai Emery took charge of Arsenal at the ‘wrong time’, says Paul Merson

Paul Merson has hailed Unai Emery as a ‘phenomenal manager’ and an ‘unbelievable technician’ and believes the Spaniard simply took charge of Arsenal too soon after Arsene Wenger’s departure.

After guiding PSG to seven trophies, including the 2017/18 Ligue 1 title, Emery took on the unenviable task of filling the shoes left behind by Wenger, the longest serving and most decorated manager in Arsenal’s history.

Emery had previously made a name for himself in the Europa League, steering Sevilla to the title three years on the trot.

But Emery struggled to get Arsenal fans onside from the get-go and was sackedon the back of a woeful run of results at the start of the 2019/20 campaign, just 18 months into his reign in north London.

Emery went on to lift the Europa League trophy again, this time with Villarreal, before leading the La Liga outfit into the Champions League semi-finals, which convinced Aston Villa to lure the Spaniard back to the Premier League two years ago.

The 52-year-old has since rebuilt his reputation in English football, transforming Villa from genuine relegation candidates into a Champions League team capable of defeating Bayern Munich.

‘He’s a phenomenal manager. He went to Arsenal at the wrong time, in my opinion,’ ex-Arsenal, Villa and England midfielder Merson told Sky Sports.

‘Following Arsene Wenger was a big ask, Arsene Wenger: one of the greats.

‘This man is a top, top coach, he’s a top, top coach. This man improves players.

‘You go through your Jose Mourinhos, your Sir Alex Fergusons, your Arsene Wengers, Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Mikel Arteta, people like that… they improve players, that’s what they do.

‘Top coaches improve players and he’s done that with every player. Every player at Aston Villa, for me, has improved since he’s been there.

‘He’s an unbelievable manager, an unbelievable technician.’

Merson added: ‘He’s right in what he said last night, they could have maybe got beaten. But they didn’t, they hung in there.

‘Arsenal beat them a couple of weeks ago when Arsenal did what Villa did to them the season before.

‘Villa are a massively improved football club. They’re a good team and it doesn’t shock me, if I’m being honest. I was fortunate enough to play there.

‘This is a big, big football club, a huge football club, and I don’t people understand how big it is unless you live in Birmingham.’

Thierry Henry shares a similar to Merson when it comes to Emery and is confident the Spaniard would have been a ‘success’ at Arsenal had he been given more time to turn the situation around.

Asked whether Emery has his respect as a coach, the legendary ex-Arsenal forward told CBS Sports: ‘Oh yeah, big time. He’s a tactical genius.

‘He always goes out there and makes sure his team has an advantage tactically because that’s how he operates. We all know what he did in Spain.

‘For me, obviously this is no disrespect to what Mikel Arteta is doing and is doing extremely well for Arsenal, I just thought that if we kept him [Emery] a bit longer he would have been a success at Arsenal.

‘He did show it straight after when he left the club.

‘I have massive respect for him.’

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