Arsenal to make a Bould appointment when Wenger calls time

Filling Arsene Wenger’s shoes will be a hellish task for whoever takes the reins when the Frenchman calls time on his north London tenure.

With his meticulous approach to running the club, he’s sure to be heavily involved in the selection process when it comes to choosing a replacement. This is why backing Steve Bould to be the man next appointed to the Arsenal hotseat at 10/1 makes sense.

Having worked as part of the Gunners’ backroom staff since 2001 and currently employed as Wenger’s assistant, Bould is well-rehearsed in the meticulous way that the club is run and his coaching style is obviously one that is highly rated within the club.

He took a big chunk of the credit for tightening up the defence after the Gunners began the season with a hat-trick of clean sheets, though a catastrophe-laden few weeks at the back makes this achievement seem to be as long ago as Bould’s playing days.

They promoted from within when long-serving right-hand man Pat Rice departed this summer and, as was the case at Barcelona when Pep Guardiola left, they’re likely to look to an individual who will not overhaul the current set-up and carry on the traditions that Wenger put in place.

Guardiola, at 5/2, is the big favourite for the job but this price is one to ignore.

It’s likely Wenger will stick around for a few years yet and, by that time, the much-sought after Spaniard will have been snapped up by another European behemoth. Arsenal’s frugality is what’s seen them fall behind the Premier League big guns and they’re not going to break the bank to buy a big-name boss out of his contract.

Jose Mourinho is a 6/1 shot for the job but, again, he is another candidate who can be ruled out.

The Special One is a fantastic coach with an enviable trophy cabinet, but even the most inept of overweight pub team supremos would feel they could do a decent job with the amount of money he’s splurged wherever he’s been, with the exception of Porto.

The Arsenal board and their tightly held purse strings would never grant him the hundreds of millions he’d demand to take the job and it’s probable that his name wouldn’t even make the first draft of the shortlist.

Appointing a managerial galactico just wouldn’t be very Arsenal and this is why Bould is a great bet to fill the void left by Wenger.

All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date