Arsene Wenger’s future remains in question, with his contract up at the end of the season and no decision taken over whether he will walk away from Arsenal.
Wenger has been in charge of the north London club for 21 years, but there is now a definite split among fans over whether he should remain or leave.
The club’s wait for a Premier League title stands at 12 years, and barring a remarkable set of events unfolding across London and Manchester, that will soon be 13.
A new two-year deal has been in the offing for the Frenchman to extend his stay at the Emirates, but with that remaining unsigned the Gunners are making contingency plans.
As revealed by Mirror Sport, their short list contains four names: Juventus boss Max Allegri, Monaco manager Leonardo Jardim, Bayer Leverkusen boss Roger Schmidt and Borussia Dortmund chief Thomas Tuchel.
And while Wenger remaining is the most likely solution – with the board still passionately supporting their manager – they are at least now preparing for what comes next.
Here is a look at the four candidates pegged by the club:
Max Allegri
Allegri has watched his Juventus predecessor Antonio Conte take the Premier League by storm this season, but there is a feeling amongst some in Italy that it is the 49-year-old, who had a modest playing career – who is actually the better manager.
Led AC Milan to a first Scudetto in seven years in 2011, before having his best players – Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic – sold from under him. The club also made the disastrous decision to allow Andrea Pirlo to depart on a free transfer.
Took charge of Juve ahead of the 2014-15 season when Conte walked out on the club on the opening day of pre-season, and has taken a side that won three straight titles under Conte to greater heights.
In his debut season in Turin he led the side to a domestic double, as well as the Champions League final, beating Real Madrid in the semi-finals. Last year, a run of 24 wins in 25 games saw the Bianconeri retain their title, before again winning the Coppa Italia with victory over former club Milan.
A smart man-manager who drew the best six months of his career out of Mario Balotelli, and a savvy tactician, he has used numerous formations in his two-and-a-half years at Juve, working with a back three and a back four.
Has also regenerated a side that suffered key departures (Pirlo, Carlos Tevez, Arturo Vidal, Paul Pogba) and a number of long-term injuries (Kwadwo Asamoah, Claudio Marchisio) during his reign, making a side that looked a little long in the tooth on the European stage under Conte younger, fresher, and more smarter in the face of Europe’s biggest and best.
Leonardo Jardim
The Venezuelan-born Portuguese coach is on his sixth job in nine years at French side Monaco, but the 42-year-old is thriving at the Stade Louis II.
Jardim led Portuguese minnows Chaves and Beira-Mar to promotion, before taking Braga to a third-place finish in 2012. He would leave after a run-in with the president, pitching up at Olympiacos. In January 2013, six months after his arrival and with the Greek side 10 points clear atop the Superleague, he was sacked in bizarre circumstances.
The following year, he returned to Sporting Lisbon, leading them to second with a team full of players developed by the youth system – including William Carvalho, whom he returned to the club after loan spells in Belgium – with 25 points more than the previous season. That success earned him a big-money deal at Monaco, hoping to develop their own star names and challenge at the top of Ligue 1.
Initially, Jardim put together a structured, hard to beat XI, finishing third in each of his first two seasons in France, largely playing 4-5-1. However, criticism game his way, with Canal+ pundit Pierre Menes declaring: “Jardim is getting good results, but his team is playing poorly. He invented new football tactics – the chloroform tactics.”
But this term, a side led by a rejuvenated Radamel Falcao and the dazzling Portuguese playmaker Bernardo Silva have had their shackles taken off and have dazzled their way to the top of the French league. Arguably the most attractive side in Europe this season, ASM have smashed home 70 goals in 24 games, adapting magnificently to a 4-4-2 formation with a host of young talent coming to the fore: Thomas Lemar, Kylian Mbappe, Silva and left-back Bengamin Mendy.
Asked about them after seeing his Marseille side thrashed 4-0, Rudi Garcia declared “they would score even if asked to play blindfolded.” And that’s all after losing the likes of Geoffrey Kondogbia, Layvin Kurzawa and Yannick Ferreira Carrasco in the last two years.
Impressively, they’ve also shown their resilient side remains in the Champions League, toughing their way into the knockout stages from a group containing Bayer Leverkusen, CSKA Moscow and Tottenham.
Roger Schmidt
“I’ve never in my career come across a team that plays with such intensity,” declared Pep Guardiola, after seeing his Bayern side stuffed 3-0 by Red Bull Salzburg, in a 2014 friendly during their winter break. The manager of the Austrian side that day was Schmidt.
Schmidt was handed his chance in Salzburg by Ralf Rangnick, the doyen of German coaches and Schmidt, like Klopp, Tuchel and a host of the new breed of German coaches, adheres to the hard-pressing, fast attacking principals of Rangnick.
He experienced success in his two years as part of the Red Bull organisation, winning 68 of his 99 games in charge, and landing an Austrian league and cup double in 2013-14 – scoring more goals at home in their league success than any other side had done in BOTH home and away fixtures – and playing a big role in the development of £30million Liverpool winger Sadio Mane.
His success in Austria brought him to the attention of Bayer Leverkusen chief executive Rudi Voller, who wanted Bayer to challenge Bayern and Dortmund and believed Schmidt’s philosophy was the way to go. Within nine seconds of his Bundesliga debut, at Dortmund, Schmidt’s men had scored.
They would go on to claim third spot in the Bundesliga – 18 points behind the big two – with a brand of intense, attacking football, built around the talents of Hakan Calhanoglu and Javier Hernandez, and young stars like Jonathan Tah and Julian Brandt.
However, Schmidt has hit something of a wall in the current campaign. Bayer may have qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League, but they currently sit a disappointing ninth in the Bundesliga, the side somewhat lacking balance.
Meanwhile, Schmidt has been in trouble for his touchline manner, including calling Hoffenheim coach Julian Nagelsmann ‘nutcase’. Right now, he looks too great a risk.
Thomas Tuchel
Tuchel ascended to the Borussia Dortmund job after forging a smart reputation at Mainz whom he led to their highest ever Bundesliga finish, replacing Jurgen Klopp at the Westfalenstadion.
Like Klopp, he urges his side to be daring, committing bodies forward with high pressing and aggressive, dynamic football. However, has arguably shown greater tactical versatility to the now-Liverpool manager, alternating formations with increasing regularity and taking the side away from the 4-2-3-1 of his antecedent, increasingly utilising the 4-1-4-1 formation more familiar with Pep Guardiola.
After leading BVB to second in his debut campaign, this season he had hoped to challenge for the title, despite the summer losses of Mats Hummels and Ilkay Gundogan.
But despite big spending, landing the likes of Ousmane Dembele, Mario Gotze and Andre Schurrle, BVB have struggled for consistency and are 12 points off the lead; while they’ve only lost three games, they’ve only won nine of their 19 so far.
