FORMER Arsenal midfielder Paul Merson believes that Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers is the ideal candidate for the vacancy at Arsenal.
The Gunners are on the hunt for a new manager after Arsene Wenger announced on Friday morning that he will step down at the end of the season.
Rodgers, who is on track to record back-to-back domestic Trebles with the Scottish champions, has emerged as one of the bookies' favourites for the Emirates role.
Read more: 'You can't put handcuffs on anybody': Celtic won't stand between Brendan Rodgers and Arsenal
And Arsenal great Merson believes that the Northern Irishman's experience makes him a standout contender.
He told Sky Sports: “I like Brendan Rodgers. I think he ticks the boxes.
“He was at Liverpool, people go ‘Oh, he had Suarez’. He still had to get a tune out of Suarez while he was there and he did.
“They’ve never been nearer to winning the league in the last so many years.
“One, he’s managed a massive club in Liverpool. Now he manages a club that has a cup final every weekend.
“He has to get those players up for whoever they play and he plays exactly the same way as Arsenal.
“I think he ticks all the boxes for Arsenal, I really do.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here