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Unai Emery may have painted himself into a corner.
The Arsenal manager was given the unenviable task in the summer of replacing the long-serving Arsene Wenger and it appeared something of an impossibility. The Gunners had not saved their money well, did not have the finances to break the bank, and signed players who were not linked with the likes of Europe’s elite.
Nevertheless, they are on course to qualify for the Champions League and could even finish above both Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United.
Emery has worked wonders. The signings of Lucas Torreira and Bernd Leno in the summer were risks – neither player was at all proven in the top-flight – but they appear to have paid off, while the acquisition of Matteo Guendouzi has proved to be a Wenger-esque masterstroke.
Denis Suarez, signed on loan in January, has not worked out quite as well but it has mattered little, with the club’s momentum rolling on. Their 2-0 win over Newcastle United on Monday evening was their sixth game unbeaten and their fifth win in those matches; they have beaten Huddersfield Town, Southampton, Bournemouth, Manchester United and the Magpies, while drawing with Spurs.
It is, obviously, good news, with the Gunners now well-placed to finish in the top three after leapfrogging Mauricio Pochettino’s out-of-sorts side.
But as the summer approaches and the need for reinforcements intensifies, one can’t help but feel that Emery might be doing too good of a job.
Stan Kroenke has never sanctioned the release of major funds, not to match the likes of the two Manchester clubs or Liverpool, anyway, and he may well look at the job that Emery is doing and only tighten the purse strings.
Many reports have speculated that Emery will be given a basic budget of around £40million. In today’s market, that simply isn’t enough to perform the surgery that is needed on the starting XI.
Arsenal require a new left-back to replace the ageing Nacho Monreal, a new centre-back to allow Emery to stop relying on Shkodran Mustafi, a replacement for Juventus-bound Aaron Ramsey, a young, pacey winger and, potentially, successors for both Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Mesut Ozil.
Money will surely be available after sales but, even so, being armed with £40m and needing five players before sales will not fill fans with confidence.
The elegant management of Emery, however, will not change the mind of Kroenke. The former Paris Saint-Germain boss is working within the budgetary restraints that held back Wenger and is doing well; qualification for the Champions League would be a genuinely amazing achievement in a season where Spurs were once in the title race and United have been reborn under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The board should reward that with a war chest as Arsenal look to climb to the next level.
It is more likely, though, that Emery will be told to again work some miracles.
He has done it so far, but it remains to be seen how long remains on that particular clock.