Unai Emery says he’s keen to build a winning project at Arsenal, and that he feels respected by the club’s hierarchy after his appointment last May.
The Spaniard stepped into the big shoes of Arsene Wenger who had spent 22 years in charge, and while he’s not expecting to stay anywhere near that length of time, he is keen to spend time in North London as the Arsenal rebuild continues.
The Gunners have a European final to contend with next week, with Emery’s track record in the Europa League one of the factors in his appointment.
He understands the pressure of having to achieve results but sounded confident of the board’s faith in him.
“Managers in England, more so all the time, we live as prisoners of results,” he told the media.
“I signed for three years, but there are windows that can mean that is either fulfilled or not.
“Here is the only place where I win with a view to continuing a project with the club.
‘It’s the first time that has happened to me: I feel respected and I am keen to be able to develop a project.
“Coaches, in the end, are where they want us. Not very often do we decide where to go. I was lucky enough to substitute Arsene Wenger.
“It will be impossible to be here for as long as he was, because I think that long spells in football have ended.
“In England, the figure of a manager is highly respected, but it also has high demands.”
Speaking yesterday, the club’s Managing Director Vinai Venkatesham made it clear the club was happy with Emery’s performance, despite the fact we didn’t manage to secure a top-four position.
“If you boiled it down to two objectives, they would be, one – to successfully integrate Unai and his coaching staff into Arsenal and the second, as challenging as we knew it would be, to qualify for the Champions League,” he said.
“If you assess our season against those two objectives, with Unai the best way to assess that is: if we went back in time, would we make the same decision?
“I can say, absolutely, 100%, categorically, we would have appointed Unai again. We’re really pleased with the impact he’s having at Arsenal and we’re delighted with his appointment.”
Arsenal play Chelsea in the Europa League final on the 29th of May in Baku.