Jose Mourinho Has Dinner With Arsenal Chief as Unai Emery Has 'One or Two Games' to Save Job

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​Arsenal's head of football Raúl Sanllehí reportedly had dinner with José Mourinho last week, as the club considers bringing the Portuguese manager to north London to replace the increasingly under-pressure Unai Emery.

The 56-year-old has been a free agent ever since leaving Manchester United last December, where he was replaced by current boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Arsenal are still yet to make a final decision on Emery's future, but Duncan Castles, writing for The Times, reports Sanllehí and Mourinho met over dinner last week amid the turbulence over who sits in the hot seat at Emirates Stadium.

The club appear to be trying to distance themselves from those rumours, however, as Goal's Charles Watts reports that there wasn't a dinner between Sanllehí and Mourinho, adding that the two haven't actually seen each other in years.

Back with the original claims from The Times, it's added in the report that Emery could have just 'one to two games of credit' left with Arsenal's key decision-makers - including Sanllehí.

As that timeframe is unlikely to include any matches in the Europa League group stages, it would suggest that Emery has a trip to Leicester City (09/11) and a home match against Ralph Hasenhüttl's Southampton (23/11) to save his job.

Although that decision will likely be brought forward if Arsenal once again fall short against Leicester City, as their trip to the King Power Stadium comes just days before the start of this month's international break.

Emery is under severe pressure as he enters his second season at the club, but the three-time Europa League winner refused to be drawn into speculation over his future in the aftermath of Arsenal's 1-1 draw against Wolves.

"I am very demanding myself and I feel my responsibility to work every time to come back with a better result in the next matches," Emery said post-match with regards to his own future, as quoted by The Express.

"We speak about how we can improve and take the positives and also be calm with the players to achieve the best performance individually and collectively."

The prospect of Mourinho walking through the doors in north London is something which divides opinion almost as much as Arsène Wenger's last few years at the club, with many fans remembering solely his most recent spells in England with Manchester United and Chelsea.

But Arsenal's decision-makers have taken Mourinho into consideration after the way he's spoken about the club during his first few months as a pundit.

Mourinho claimed that Arsenal's front three could replicate that of Liverpool's by using Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Nicolas Pépé - he singled out the club's record signing as someone who could become "a real force" in England - in the same way that Jürgen Klopp uses Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah.

The three-time Premier League winner and two-time Champions League winner has also previously worked with Arsenal's Mesut Özil.

The World Cup winner has only played more games under Wenger during his career, where Özil registered 108 goals or assists, while the 31-year-old picked up a combined tally of 107 in 39 less games under Mourinho.


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