Unai Emery appears to have announced he is the new manager of Arsenal.
The 46-year-old left French side Paris St Germain earlier this month and is set to walk straight back into work at the Emirates Stadium.
On Tuesday evening, the homepage of his personal website – www.unai-emery.com – displayed a picture of Emery alongside an Arsenal crest.
It carried the message: “Proud to be part of the Arsenal family.”
The image was taken down from Emery’s website shortly after 11pm, replaced by an error message.
Arsenal have not confirmed Emery’s appointment although that announcement is expected before the end of the week.
Emery is coming off a two-year stint in Paris during which he won one Ligue 1 title and four domestic cups.
He looks to have seen off strong competition for the Arsenal job, after a host of big-name bosses and former Gunners players including Mikel Arteta were linked with succeeding Arsene Wenger.
According to Claudio Ranieri, who won the Premier League with Leicester in 2016, Emery can be a success at Arsenal but may need up to four seasons to move the club forwards.
Emery led Sevilla to three successive Europa League trophies, and Ranieri says the Spaniard has the strength of character needed to make an impact at Arsenal.
“Unai is a good man and a good coach. He managed for a lot of years in Spain,” said Ranieri, who left Nantes last week and includes Chelsea, Juventus and Monaco among his former teams.
“He made a very good season in Paris St Germain – but you know in Paris you have to win the Champions League, and only the Champions League, that is the target there.”
The Italian added on Sky Sports News: “I think now maybe they (the new Arsenal boss) need three (or) four years to stay calm and then restart, but football is fantastic because you never know what could happen.
“Unai is a very strong man, a good manager and I think he could have very good success there.”
Former Arsenal midfielder Arteta, currently part of Pep Guardiola’s staff at Manchester City, had been heavily rumoured to be the leading candidate – and Wenger said last week the Spaniard “has all the qualities to do the job”.
Arteta, Luis Enrique and Juventus’ Massimiliano Allegri were among those strongly linked, and Emery had initially been widely thought of as an outsider.
Press Association Sport understands Arsenal conducted in-depth interviews with several candidates from a long list of potential managers.
News of Emery’s possible appointment first came late on Monday, not long after Wenger was pictured waving goodbye as he left the club’s Hertfordshire training complex.
The 68-year-old Wenger is expected to make a decision on his own future before the World Cup, where the veteran coach will be working as a pundit for French television.
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