Opinion: Why Arsenal should steer clear of Pep Guardiola when Arsene Wenger eventually retires

Arsene Wenger is entering the final sprint of his Arsenal career after what has been a very long marathon and talk of his potential replacements must dominate the conversations of the club’s hierarchy.

Wenger is set to complete his first of a three-year-deal, at the end of which, the Frenchman will have turned 67. Cast back to a frank interview Wenger gave to The Guardian in 2010 and the fact that he remains close to the end will ring home.

“I cannot see that my enthusiasm will drop, but I am not necessarily the same resistance physically as Alex Ferguson. At 65 I will certainly move to some different job,” Wenger predicted.

But here he is, still going strong at 65 and with two more years left on his existing contract. However, the end is most certainly on the horizon.

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When conversation turns to his eventual replacement, one name remains prominent in everyone’s thoughts – Pep Guardiola. The reasons are obvious, the Catalan boss plays a possession based game and likes to promote the youth players in his development squads.

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However, here are five reasons why we should not appoint Guardiola as Wenger’s replacement.

5. Rigid Philosophy

Barcelona midfield

Guardiola’s all-conquering Barcelona side between 2008-2012 was arguably the greatest club side of all time. However, his obsession with possession eventually led to the team’s decline as Chelsea knocked them out of the Champions League semi-final.

Guardiola’s focus on ball retention was bordering on insanity. From a team which possessed only three midfielders operating behind a devastating forward line in Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto’o and Lionel Messi, the former Barcelona skipper made drastic changes.

In the first-leg semi-final defeat to Chelsea in his last year at Barcelona, Guardiola started with a back three in order to accommodate six midfielders into his side.

As he’s shown with Bayern, his philosophy shall not be compromised and that isn’t healthy problem to have.