Arsenal legend Emmanuel Petit warns club letting Carlo Ancelotti join Everton would be a huge mistake

ARSENAL legend Emmanuel Petit has urged the club to move quickly in case Carlo Ancelotti joins rivals Everton.

The Gunners legend, 49, believed former team-mate Patrick Vieira was the right man for the job until the ex-Napoli boss became available.

And now he wants Emirates chiefs to go all out to secure the 60-year-old Italian, who has held talks with the Toffees in London, as Unai Emery’s replacement.

Petit told the Mirror: “I’m not surprised. We’re two weeks on from Emery being sacked and Arsenal still haven’t got a new manager.

“In this period of the season, it’s not easy to find a manager, a good one. Most of them are already working.

“Ancelotti would be, right now, the perfect answer for Arsenal. It’s very rare to see a top manager like him ­getting fired in the ­middle of the season.

“It’s a coincidence and sometimes destiny tries to show you the way to go and you have to be open to it. He is one of the top managers in the world, he’s available and he’s on the market.

“I know he is in talks with ­Everton as well, but I’m pretty sure, if Arsenal do as good a job, he’d be more than happy to be the ­manager of Arsenal.”

Petit thinks highly of his former skipper Vieira, who is currently with Nice, and believes the Frenchman could take over once he has gained more experience.

He added: “Patrick was my No1 choice and I did really think that. But now Ancelotti is on the market and in the meantime ­Patrick needs to improve more as a manager.

“He is still a young manager, what he is doing, step by step, is a good thing, the right thing, but he needs to improve more and more.

“Experience, the relationship with the players in the dressing room, it’s quite difficult ­sometimes with the new generation. He needs to get more experience.”