Paul Merson seemingly wanted Chris Wilder at Arsenal.
Pundit Paul Merson has told Sky Sports’ The Debate that he can’t believe Arsenal didn’t move to make Chris Wilder their new boss back in October.
Sheffield United hosted Arsenal in late October on a cold Monday night, and in truth, their 1-0 win over the Gunners wasn’t exactly a surprise.
The Blades were by far the better side against a rudderless Arsenal side, with Unai Emery struggling to cling onto his job at the time.
The axe fell just over a month later, with Emery losing his job at the Emirates Stadium, before Mikel Arteta was lured from Manchester City as his replacement.
Arteta is still figuring things out at Arsenal, and he will be given time to change the club’s fortunes, given that this is his first stint as a manager.
Yet Merson believes that Arsenal should have been going for Wilder, and should have launched a move for him immediately after his Sheffield United side beat Arsenal 1-0.
Merson thinks Wilder is exactly what Arsenal needed, but thinks he may have had a problem pushing his style of play to Gunners stars who earn hundreds of thousands pounds a week.
“I watched Sheffield United play Arsenal at home earlier on in the season, and I’m sitting there thinking ‘how is this man not the manager of Arsenal?’. Why were you not, after that game, because of everything that was going on, going ‘you go and get that’. The problem is, when you’ve got players on £350,000-a-week, £250,000-a-week, and you’ve got to ask them to go and chase down in the corners,” said Merson.
Wilder has guided his boyhood club from League One to the Premier League, and they are now chasing European football, making Wilder one of the most popular managers in the country right now.
A big move may come one day, but it’s unlikely to be with Arsenal after the appointment of Arteta, and Wilder himself is probably very happy living his dream with the Blades.
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