Former Arsenal defender Nacho Monreal was sorry to see Unai Emery being sacked by the Gunners. Arsenal choice to cut ties with Emery last week following a one and a half year spell.

Emery was appointed as Arsenal manager during the summer of 2018 and succeeded Arsene Wenger who stepped down at the end of the 2017/18 season after 22-years in charge of the club.

He told Marca: “Things are not going as they thought. I want to be optimistic because I know what potential there is. I am sad that they did not finish taking that step forward that they were supposed to take this season. And also because I had a very close relationship with Unai and, when you have that personal relationship, you want to see him succeed and achieve the goals, because he and his coaching staff are also great professionals.

“I want him to do well, as well as Osasuna and Malaga, obviously now, of course, La Real.”

Arsenal failed to grow under Emery

Arsenal began to stagnate significantly during the final two years of Wenger’s reign as they failed to qualify for the Champions League.

 

Emery’s immediate mandate for last season was to immediately take the club back to the Champions League.

He failed to achieve that target as they finished the league in the fifth position and also lost the Europa League final against Chelsea.

Emery did do some positive

While Emery was not a success at the Emirates, he did at least make some positive changes at the club. He was responsible for bringing in the duo of Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira.

The duo have been overwhelming successes since they joined the Gunners during the summer of 2018.

Torreira joined the club from Sampdoria after having impressed with Uruguay during the 2018 World Cup while Guendouzi joined the club as a relatively unknown talent from France. He has nevertheless turned out to be one of the best value for money investments that the club has made during recent seasons.

Monreal was one of the players who left Arsenal last summer. He was a good servant to the club during his spell in England. A parting of ways was perhaps best for both parties.

Arsenal needed to build their side around a younger core whilst a move would have allowed