Unai Emery’s struggles to manage Mesut Ozil at Arsenal and the big stars at Paris Saint-Germain suggests he will not want to bring in big name stars at Newcastle. Emery spent two years at PSG before taking charge of the Gunners for 18 months.
But at both clubs, the Spaniard found it difficult to get the best out of his big-name stars, including Ozil, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
Though he was sacked by Arsenal midway through his second season, Emery is now the favourite to take over at Newcastle.
The Magpies sacked Steve Bruce a fortnight ago with the club second bottom of the Premier League, a position they are still in.
It has been a drawn out process from the club’s new Saudi Arabian ownership to appoint a replacement for Bruce.
But it is a process that appears to be drawing to a close with Emery understood to be close to agreeing to take over at St James’ Park.
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“I am of the opinion that PSG’s leader is Neymar. Neymar came to PSG to be the leader. At Manchester City, Pep is in charge. At PSG, Neymar has to be.”
Emery moved on from PSG after just one season of managing Neymar, joining Arsenal following the departure of Arsene Wenger.
But his struggles with big-names again reared its head at the Emirates Stadium, with Ozil this time the player.
The Spaniard attempted to get the best out of Ozil, but struggled to get the right level of commitment from the midfielder.
“I spoke a lot with Özil. He has to be self‑critical too, analyse his attitude and commitment. I tried with all my might to help Özil,” he told The Guardian after leaving Arsenal.
“In pre-season I told him I wanted to help recover the best Özil. I wanted a high level of participation and commitment in the dressing room.
“I was always open to talking, he was always in my plans, but he had to do his bit. And there were things I couldn’t control.”
Emery’s past challenges with top stars suggests that his transfer strategy will not match that of his new bosses, who will want to sign big names when the window opens.
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