Arsenal are reportedly interested in the Spanish coach.
Paul Merson has revealed his surprise that Arsenal are reportedly targeting Marcelino.
According to ESPN, the 54-year-old Spaniard would be willing to take on the role of the Gunners’ head coach following the sacking of Unai Emery last month.
Marcelino is one of a number of coaches being linked with the Arsenal job, with Paulo Sousa and Niko Kovac two others to find themselves linked in recent days.
The former Valencia boss was sacked by the Mestalla club as recently as September, having been appointed back in 2017.
And Merson is shocked that the Emirates Stadium side are reportedly after him ahead of a manager like Sheffield United’s Chris Wilder, with the Blades sitting above Arsenal on their return to the Premier League.
He said to Sky Sports: “There is talk about the former Valencia manager, Marcelino, coming to Arsenal.
“He [Wilder] has been absolutely outstanding, earned his stripes and then he gets overlooked by a manager that has just been sacked by Valencia. Football management is the only job in the world where you get sacked and walk straight into another job. The mind boggles.”
Merson definitely has a point; not so much about Wilder, because a lot of Arsenal fans wouldn’t be crazy about that idea.
But it is a tad strange why the North Londoners would want somebody who failed at Valencia, a smaller club by all accounts.
If Marcelino – who won a Copa Del Rey with Valencia last season – wasn’t a roaring success at Los Che then it does make you wonder why or how he’s the man to oversee the transformation that’s desperately needed at the Gunners.
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