Robbie Savage has backed Southampton‘s Ronald Koeman to succeed Arsene Wenger as Arsenal boss, should the Frenchman depart at the end of the season.
The Gunners have won just four of their last 14 fixtures in all competitions to pile the pressure on their manager, and there’s been speculation that he may decide to leave at the end of the campaign.
There doesn’t appear to be too many top-class candidates to replace the long-serving Frenchman, but Savage thinks that Koeman would be the perfect replacement given the job he’s done at Southampton.
The BBC pundit told BBC Radio 5 Live: “You’ve always got to think, if he was not to be the manager, who could be his replacement?
“I look at Ronald Koeman at Southampton. I think he’s a fantastic, young manager with great ideas who plays great football. So I think there are replacements out there for Arsene Wenger.”
Koeman, who took over at Southampton as Mauricio Pochettino’s successor in 2014, enjoyed an outstanding debut season with the Saints, guiding them to a seventh-place finish last term, despite losing five first-team players that summer.
After an inconsistent start this season, Southampton put together an excellent run of form at the turn of the year to climb into seventh once more, and they’re currently just three points behind Manchester United in sixth.
During his time at the club, the Dutchman has made Southampton extremely difficult to beat, as this term they’ve conceded the third-fewest number of goals in the division with 30, while scoring 38 at the other end.
Southampton ended a run of three games without a win by beating Stoke City at the weekend, and Wenger will be hoping that his side can do the same when they travel to Everton on Saturday.
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