David Ornstein: Arsenal don’t have an Unai Emery break clause | OneFootball

It has been widely reported that Arsenal and Unai Emery have a ‘break clause’ in his contract that would allow the club to walk away at the end of two years but it seems this might not be true.

Unai Emery is under pressure to get Arsenal back into the Champions League. Raul Sanllehi has been as clear as he can be in informing fans, and the head coach, of what they expect.

“We said to Unai that we just missed out on qualifying for the Champions League last year, but this year with a stronger squad, we expect you to do that,” Sanllehi said.

Many think that the club could walk away from Emery at the end of this season if he fails in that objective but that won’t be as easy to do if he still has another year left on his deal. In short, it will cost them.

“From what I gather they are happy with Emery,” Ornstein wrote during a Q&A with fans. Josh Kroenke expressed as much when I interviewed him in August. Whether he is their man for the long haul is impossible to say. Much will rest on the outcome of this season.

“The club’s tradition is to stand by their managers and let them build. Of course, this is a new era at Arsenal – certainly a more decisive, you could say ruthless, one – and he’s not their manager, rather the head coach.

“That continental model lends itself to head coaches coming and going without disrupting the overarching structure. Arsène Wenger said a couple of years ago at the AGM that he may have been around for 20-odd years but he can guarantee that once he leaves there will be many more managers/coaches who lead Arsenal in the next 20 years.

“On the option – and I fully respect other people’s information – I’ve been told [by] multiple sources that it’s a three-year contract without a break clause. I could be wrong, it’s just what I’ve been told when asking that specific question. Either way, the outcome of this season is likely to be pivotal.”

Scoring fewer goals and conceding more, it certainly looks like Emery is struggling to make things better than what we saw under Wenger.

Where did the clause rumour come from?

Matt Hughes, writing in a Times’ exclusive [£] back in June 2018, said, “Unai Emery’s contract at Arsenal contains a break clause that can be triggered after two seasons, enabling the club to dismiss him one year early.

“The Times has learnt that the club can invoke the clause without paying up the full value of his contract.”