Arsenal: Who in Europe could replace Arsene Wenger?

Arsenal have started the process of finding a successor to Arsene Wenger after almost 22 years in charge of the club.

The Gunners are looking for a manager who shares Wenger's "qualities and values", plays "progressive, exciting football" and "gives youth a chance", according to chief executive Ivan Gazidis.

But who in Europe is available and fulfils those criteria?

James Horncastle, Raphael Honigstein and Julien Laurens of the BBC Radio 5 live Euro Leagues Football Show give their verdicts on the leading candidates.

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The Italian trio

Juventus manager Massimiliano Allegri, Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri and former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti

Massimiliano Allegri, 50, is currently in his fourth year with Juventus, having won the Serie A and Coppa Italia double in each of his three previous seasons, while finishing runner-up in the Champions League in 2015 and 2017.

After a career spent mainly in the lower leagues, Maurizio Sarri, 59, took over Napoli in 2015 and introduced a more attacking style while establishing them as title contenders.

Carlo Ancelotti has won domestic titles with AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris St-Germain and Bayern Munich, and has also won the Champions League three times - twice with Milan and once with Real Madrid. The 58-year-old has been out of work since being sacked by Bayern in September.

Horncastle: "Allegri is often linked with big Premier League jobs and has always made it clear he would like to work in England one day - a club in London would be particularly attractive. However, looking at what Gazidis has said, I'm not entirely sure Allegri fits the brief, because he is pragmatic. He will often tell his critics, 'You can't have caviar and champagne every day, sometimes you need a ham sandwich.'

"If you want someone who plays consistently beautiful football and can impose an identity on the team then, in Italy, I would look to Sarri. Like Pep Guardiola, he won't compromise on his philosophy.

"He could add value to the existing Arsenal team and would not necessarily demand they spend all the money they have in the bank.

"He has a clause in his contract - if anyone is prepared to pay 8.5m euros, they can have Sarri. Napoli are trying to lock him down to a new contract - the deal on the table is 2.5m euros per year. Not just Arsenal but other clubs could make a very competitive offer that Napoli couldn't match."

Honigstein: "Ancelotti wouldn't fit what Arsenal need right now, which is someone who shakes these players and says, 'No longer fourth place or fifth place, let's really go for it.'

"Arsenal need to get rid of that apathy, get rid of that air of complacency that has been surrounding the club for so long. Ancelotti would just perpetuate it - at Bayern he had a fitness coach who smoked."

The young Germans

Former Borussia Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel, Hoffenheim manager Julian Nagelsmann and Schalke head coach Domenico Tedesco

Former Borussia Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel, 44, has been linked with Arsenal but is understood to be replacing Unai Emery at Ligue 1 champions Paris St-Germain next season.

Julian Nagelsmann, 30, saved Hoffenheim from relegation after taking over in February 2016, before guiding them to fourth in the Bundesliga last season and the Champions League play-offs, where they were beaten by Liverpool.

Domenico Tedesco, 32, is in his first season in charge of Schalke, with the club currently second in the Bundesliga.

Honigstein: "Gazidis quite likes some of the young German coaches coming through and certainly the feeling was reciprocal when it came to Tuchel - he was very interested in the Arsenal job but he is going to PSG.

"Nagelsman and Tedesco have done fantastic work with very little money but it's a tough sell when they have not worked for very long and haven't worked consistently in the Champions League, if at all.

"Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have recently struggled to find coaches because the top guys are not available. I don't see Arsenal making an appointment from the Bundesliga - there is no realistic candidate who is totally viable from Arsenal's point of view or vice-versa. Tuchel would've been that guy but Arsenal missed the boat on him."

Luis Enrique

Luis Enrique left his role as Barcelona boss last June after three years in charge

Former Real Madrid and Barcelona midfielder Luis Enrique won the Champions League, two La Liga titles and the Copa Del Rey three times in three years while in charge of Barcelona. The 47-year-old Spaniard, who also had spells at Roma and Celta Vigo, has not worked since leaving Barcelona last June.

Laurens: "Enrique worked with Arsenal's head of football relations Raul Sanllehi at Barcelona. Sanllehi has such a strong relationship with Enrique, it will play a part and I wouldn't be surprised if he got the job."

Horncastle: "Enrique is from the Barcelona school and followed, in many respects, the same path as Guardiola - he had a stint with the Barcelona B team then later became the senior coach. But it's hard to assess what he did at the Nou Camp - he won the treble twice, but he had Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar.

"At Roma he tried to change the mentality away from the result to the process and playing good football, but they crashed out of Europe. He walked away, completely exhausted by the entire experience, even though the players had bought in by the end. It's difficult for Arsenal to look at him and think he's a sure thing."

Honigstein: "You wonder about how Enrique comes across - he doesn't seem to have that enthusiasm for his work. He often seemed very downtrodden, aggrieved and political - reading between the lines, Gazidis and Arsenal want someone with a more youthful, positive, dynamic aura."

Former Gunners

Former Arsenal midfielders Mikel Arteta and Patrick Vieira have both moved into coaching through associations with Manchester City

Mikel Arteta, 36, spent five years at Arsenal and is now an assistant to Guardiola at Manchester City.

Patrick Vieira, 41, won three Premier League titles and three FA Cup trophies during nine years at the Gunners and is now head coach of New York City.

Honigstein: "Arteta has been mentioned behind the scenes a lot and he is seen as a future Arsenal coach. They could end up in a situation where some of the bigger names aren't available or don't quite fit and they might end up with someone like Arteta or Vieira.

"The fans would be very underwhelmed if someone like Celtic and former Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers came in. You could say the fans were very underwhelmed when Wenger came in 22 years ago, but the club need to make a bigger statement. That either comes through a blue chip manager or somebody they consider an Arsenal man - Arteta or Vieira would really galvanise the support."

Laurens: "Arteta impressed when he was at Arsenal with how ready he was to be a coach already. It's too early for him, so he's not going to get it now but I wouldn't be surprised if in the next few years, maybe after the next manager, he would come to the club. The Guardiola schooling that Arteta is getting right now would resonate a lot at Arsenal and they would like someone like Pep basically."

What next for Wenger?

Following Arsenal's 4-1 league victory over West Ham on Sunday, Wenger said he was unsure whether he will retire, manage elsewhere or take a director of football role.

Former Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein, who recruited Wenger from Japanese side Nagoya Grampus Eight in 1996, said "there will be no shortage of offers" and has already taken calls from people looking to get in touch with the Frenchman.

Laurens: "I don't see him taking another club job and that's what I've been told. However, a national team might interest him - a good project, not somewhere exotic where he's going to take the money. France have got Didier Deschamps for at least another two years. Wenger would be very, very keen on the England job.

"He's perhaps interested in something a bit bigger like a director of football job, which would be strange because how much would he interfere in what another manager is going to do with a team? There are rumours that PSG are maybe looking for that figure to be at the top of the club and they might be interested in Wenger. But I think he's done as manager at club level.

"In France he is probably the biggest manager we've ever had. Although he had a short career in France, what he's done at Arsenal - he's one of our greatest for sure. He changed a lot about English football but he struggled to evolve when he should've done.

"Now when he faces managers like Jurgen Klopp and Guardiola, who are bringing in a new style of football, you can see he is behind and that's a shame - but his legacy is amazing."

Honigstein: "In Europe, they will remember Wenger's legacy for changing English football, making it much more European, introducing a lot of European players to the English game, finding this hybrid between the pace and the brutality with the elegance and beauty.

"There was a time he could've walked into the Bayern job, but that time is long gone, because most of the interaction that European clubs and fans have had with Arsenal at Champions League level recently, you have to say his legacy has been tarnished through a succession of catastrophic defeats where a normal club would've fired this manager a long time ago."

Horncastle: "I would love to see him take the Japan job. That would be fantastic, but that's just the romantic in me."