Search icon

Sport

02nd Apr 2017

Paul Merson ventures outside the box to pick Arsene Wenger’s potential successor

Long shot

Darragh Murphy

We know one thing, Sean Dyche would deal with that bloody difficult zip on the Arsenal jacket.

Arsene Wenger’s future has never been so uncertain and a number of contenders are emerging as potential replacements for the current longest serving manager in the Premier League.

Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri is the favourite to take over from the under-fire Wenger while the likes of Eddie Howe and Thomas Tuchel have also been discussed.

Outsiders for the gig include Gunners legends Dennis Bergkamp and Patrick Vieira.

But another former Arsenal player, Paul Merson, has a very unexpected take on who could take over from the Frenchman.

After praising Burnley boss Sean Dyche on Soccer Saturday, Merson explained why he saw no reason to rule out Dyche’s potential ability to improve Arsenal.

“I think he’s done great, Sean Dyche,” Merson said. “Because he plays the way he does, he should get another job.

“I don’t want to be disrespectful to Burnley but he should be the next one in line. For me that’s how it works. He’s done his thing. He’s done brilliantly. He should get another job.

“People will probably look and go ‘He doesn’t play the Arsenal way!’ but what is the Arsenal way?

“Why not? Why not? I’ll tell you, he’d go in and liven it up.”

Cue predictable social media outrage.

https://twitter.com/g_ren24/status/848222406716076035?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirror.co.uk%2Fsport%2Frow-zed%2Fpaul-merson-wenger-dyche-arsenal-10141369

https://twitter.com/Registampista/status/848203975837048834?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirror.co.uk%2Fsport%2Frow-zed%2Fpaul-merson-wenger-dyche-arsenal-10141369

https://twitter.com/smolz_gixx/status/848169996333305856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mirror.co.uk%2Fsport%2Frow-zed%2Fpaul-merson-wenger-dyche-arsenal-10141369

https://twitter.com/AdamRichard25/status/848156199707127809