Unai Emery was ‘openly mocked’ by Arsenal players before his sacking
Sacked manager Unai Emery was reportedly openly mocked by his own Arsenal players last month, it has been revealed.
Emery was given the boot on Friday morning after the Gunners lost 2-1 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League to make it SEVEN games without a win.
The has reported the Spanish manager was the target of jokes as his 18-month reign came to an end on Friday morning.
It is said the former PSG boss sat alone on the club’s private plane back from Portugal after the 1-1 draw against Vitoria Guimaraes earlier this month, with jokes by senior players made within his earshot.
One player reportedly said 'how many captains do we have?', in reference to his decision to demote Granit Xhaka as the club's skipper following his furious outburst at fans and appoint Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang captain.
The report also states the 48-year-old's accent and broken English was 'openly mocked' by players at the Gunners' London Colney training ground.
Communication was said to be a 'big problem' at the club - and youngster Bukayo Saka’s comments from September support that claim.
“It helps so much,” Saka replied when asked how useful it is to have assistant first-team coach Freddie Ljungberg’s input. “Sometimes when I don’t understand, when the coach is trying to communicate with me, I have a better communication with Freddie sometimes, he speaks better English.”
But a week later Emery said he didn't believe the language barrier was a problem, insisting: “I think no.”
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The report also quotes sources who claim meetings with Emery dragged on as players could not understand what he was trying to get across.
Emery’s departure signals another low point in the club’s history, with the manager axed after overseeing Arsenal’s worst run of form since 1992 when George Graham was in charge.
In 22 years as manager, Arsene Wenger never went seven games without a victory – Emery has achieved that feat in only 18 months.
Ljungberg has now taken charge on an interim basis. He is also a front-runner for the full-time role, as is Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo.