According to The Telegraph, Juventus manager Max Allegri is one of the frontrunners to take over from Arsene Wenger when he leaves Arsenal this summer, with talks between the two parties already planned.
The Frenchman announced last month that he would be leaving the north London outfit at the end of the season following 22 years at the helm, and he signed off at the Emirates Stadium with a 5-0 win against Burnley on Sunday.
The Arsenal board will already be considering who they turn to next, and The Telegraph says that Allegri, who is on the verge of winning the Serie A title with Juve, is one of their preferred targets.
With three league titles – and soon to be four – as well as reaching the Champions League final twice during his time with the Italian side, the 50-year-old has shown the ability that he has, and he has all of the credentials to make the Gunners great again following a tough few years.
The former AC Milan chief, who could be handed a sizeable transfer budget, would be looking to make some big changes to the squad if he was appointed this summer, and he could look to bring some players he is already familiar with during his managerial career to north London.
Here are four players with a connection to Allegri that Arsenal could sign this summer if they get the Italian…
The Italy international may be 33 years of age and getting no younger, but if he is willing to leave his home nation for the Premier League at this stage of his career, then Arsenal simply have to sign him up.
The 33-year-old is a leader and a centre-back that is willing to put his body on the line for his club, and that is something that the Gunners have been missing in recent years.
Adding someone like Chiellini to their backline would galvanise them and would hopefully improve a defence that has been far too leaky in the Premier League – especially on the road – this season.
The left-back/left wing-back has long been linked with a move to the Premier League with Chelsea and Manchester United the clubs interested in the Brazilian in the past, but no move has ever materialised.
While Arsenal currently have Nacho Monreal, who was slammed by his own fans on Twitter for his display in the Europa League semi-final defeat to Atletico Madrid last week, and Sead Kolasinac available to play on the left-hand side, the former is getting no younger while the latter perhaps doesn’t have the quality to be starting every week for the north London outfit.
Signing Alex Sandro, who is as capable from a defensive point of view as he is at getting forward, would provide the Gunners with some stability on the left.
It’s fair to say that the Frenchman’s second spell at Old Trafford hasn’t quite gone to plan since the Red Devils signed him in a club-record deal from Juventus in 2016.
The France international is coming to the end of another campaign when he has struggled to make an impact on a consistent basis, and he has often been left on the substitutes’ bench by manager Jose Mourinho in 2018.
If the 25-year-old did leave Old Trafford this summer he could be keen to link up with Allegri again having impressed under the Italian from 2014-2016, and it would give Arsenal the powerful presence in the middle of the park that they have often missed – convincing United to sell to them would be difficult, however.
Strengthening at centre-back looks to be one of the priorities for whoever the new Arsenal manager is going to be, and if it is Allegri he could choose to bring Daniele Rugani with him to north London.
The Italy international has been in and out of the Serie A outfit’s starting XI this season, but he has been more of a regular in recent weeks and at 23 years of age, has plenty of time to grow and improve – especially if he was partnered by someone like Chiellini at the Emirates.
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