Back in late 2020, 12 months on from his appointment as Arsenal boss, rumours were rife that Mikel Arteta was set to face the sack at the Emirates.
Despite guiding the Gunners to the FA Cup four months prior, while having to deal with Covid’s impact on the Premier League, patience for Arteta’s ‘project’ was beginning to wear thin among certain corners of the fanbase and speculation had started suggesting the Spaniard could lose his job.
Some felt Arteta’s undeniable inexperience was starting to show. In the aftermath of a particularly dismal home defeat at the hands of Wolves, the Arsenal boss admitted he was under no illusion that if he didn’t turn things around he’d be sacked.
It had been reported that those at the top of the Gunners hierarchy were also well prepared for a scenario that saw Arteta lose his job. Italian publication StadioSport claimed that Arsenal had identified a potential successor were results to spiral further.
That man was none other than former Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri. The Italian guided the Blues for a single season, during which time he won the Europa League, beating none other than the Gunners 4-1 in the final in Baku.
Of course, Arteta eventually turned the tide on his Arsenal reign in emphatic fashion. Though the 42-year-old has not won any more major trophies since that FA Cup triumph, he has transformed the Gunners into a side that could genuinely win the Premier League.
As for Sarri, he’s already been part of two different clubs since those rumours linking him with the Arsenal job four years ago. The 65-year-old parted ways with Chelsea in 2019 and would take the reins at Italian giants Juventus that same year.
He guided the ‘Old Lady’ to the Serie A title, Sarri’s first major trophy in Italian football, but disappointing performances in the Champions League meant the Juventus board were in no mood to keep him around. Sarri was sacked 14 months after his appointment.
One year out of elite-level football soon followed, before Sarri opted to get back on the horse and take charge of another Serie A giant in Lazio. Elimination from the Champions League this season at the hands of Bayern Munich meant he resigned from his post nearly three years after he arrived at the Stadio Olimpico.