Gary Neville has warned Arsenal that Unai Emery will need four transfer windows to fix the team following their defeat to Manchester City on Sunday. Emery’s reign as Arsenal manager began with a loss as goals in each half from Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva sealed victory for the Premier League champions at the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal have spent just over £70 million on new signings this summer, including goalkeeper Bernd Leno, Lucas Torreira and Sokratis Papastathopoulos. But Neville believes Emery needs three more transfer windows in order to improve Arsenal. ‘He has to have four transfer windows to make this team his. It’s not Chelsea here, by the way,’ Neville told Sky Sports.
‘I don’t think this is short term, the recruitment has been so bad there over this last three or four years. ‘It’s going to take basically two or three, four transfer windows to sort this out. ‘This is a great coach, Unai Emery, he needs three or four transfer windows. ‘I don’t care who the coach would be – you could bring Pep Guardiola in here. ‘It took Pep Guardiola three transfer windows at City, the first one in the summer, the January and then the summer after. ‘Pep Guardiola, the greatest coach in the world with the biggest budget, it’s going to take him [Emery] more than that.’
Unai Emery admits Bernd Leno must wait for his chance after Petr Cech started in goal for Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on Sunday. Leno was signed in a £22 million deal from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer and was expected to be Emery’s first-choice goalkeeper for the new season. But for Arsenal’s Premier League opener against City at the Emirates Stadium, Emery opted to start Cech ahead of the 26-year-old. And the Arsenal manager has suggested that Cech will remain as his No.1 for the time being. ‘We want the competitiveness from the goalkeepers and also every player in the squad,’ said Emery. ‘The pre-season is the same opportunity, the same chances for the goalkeepers. ‘We spoke also Petr did a very good pre-season, also today I think he played good also.
