Ancelotti has been heavily tipped to take over from Unai Emery at Premier League underachievers Arsenal after being sacked by Napoli.
Arsenal director of football Edu is championing Patrick Vieira’s return to North London amid concerns that Carlo Ancelotti is not the man to turn a sinking Gunners ship around, according to the Sun.
A fortnight after Unai Emery was handed his P45, it seems that Arsenal are no closer to landing a replacement with links to Mikel Arteta, Max Allegri, Vitor Pereira and Marcelo Gallardo coming to nothing so far.
But with one of the most successful and respected tacticians in the world suddenly on the market after his sacking by Napoli on Tuesday, Ancelotti has seemingly jumped right to the front of the queue to take over at the Emirates.
But, according to the Sun, Edu would prefer to bring former team-mate and captain Vieira back to Arsenal instead, with the Frenchman having impressed back home in France with his ability to get the best out of a very limited Nice side.
At 43, Vieira has far less top level experience than a veteran Italian who has seven European trophies, including three Champions League titles, on his CV.
But Ancelotti’s reputation has taken a real battering in the last two years, having been fired by Napoli and Bayern Munich after a dramatic drop-off in form.
The former PSG, Real Madrid, Juventus and Chelsea was famed for his excellent man-management but his typically laissez-faire approach didn’t go down well at all with Bayern, for example, whose players had grown used to the relentless intensity of Pep Guardiola.
If Arsenal are crying out for, ahem, a bit of a kick up the backside, Ancelotti’s softly softly approach might be the opposite of what they need right now.
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