After being sacked by Arsenal FC back in November, former Paris Saint-Germain Unai Emery is continuing his rounds through the media to keep his name out in the public as the Spanish manager hopes to land a job soon for the 2020-21 season.
The 48-year-old spoke with The Guardian recently to lay out what he believes went wrong in North London and one of the details released was the lack of support he received from management.
In the interview, Emery states how PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi would shield him from the criticism in the dressing room and public. However, at Arsenal, that wasn’t the case. The top officials gave empty promises about being together with the Spanish manager.
“At every club, I’ve been protected: Lorca, Almería, Valencia, PSG. At Sevilla, I had Monchi. At PSG, Nasser al-Khelaifi protected me in the dressing room and publicly,” Emery said. “At Arsenal, they weren’t able to, maybe because they came from [Arsene] Wenger, who did everything. They’d say: ‘We’re with you,’ but in front of fans and the dressing room, they couldn’t protect me. Truth is, I felt alone. And the results dictated I had to go.”
While in Paris, Emery had significant run-ins with players and the media calling from his firing, but there are plenty of instances where Al-Khelaifi would stand firm and say that Emery as their manager.
A change was needed because the pressures of delivering in the UEFA Champions League were too much for Emery. Nonetheless, this peek behind the Arsenal curtain only shows that PSG is an ideal spot for a manager in which club officials will have their back.
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