The former Manchester City women’s manager Nick Cushing is among the shortlisted candidates to be the next Arsenal women’s head coach.
Cushing has been in charge of the New York City FC men’s team since 2022, having moved to the Major League Soccer side initially as assistant coach in 2020. The 39-year-old was quickly identified as a target by Arsenal to replace Jonas Eidevall, after the Swede’s resignation last week.
Cushing led Manchester City to the Women’s Super League title in 2016 and is one of only three coaches to have managed a WSL title-winning side in the past decade, together with the former Chelsea manager Emma Hayes and the former Arsenal manager Joe Montemurro.
Arsenal’s interest in Cushing, first reported by the Athletic on Wednesday, comes with New York City in playoff action in the climax of the MLS season. They face Cincinnati on 28 October and will hope to still be in the playoffs in early December. Cushing is understood to be under contract with New York City for a further 12 months, until the end of the 2025 MLS campaign.
However, Cushing is not the only coach Arsenal have identified as a strong candidate to replace Eidevall. The club are understood to be in no rush to make an appointment, with senior staff believing that they are in safe hands with the interim head coach, Renée Slegers. The Dutchwoman has overseen two wins from two games in caretaker charge so far.
The Arsenal sporting director, Edu, and director of women’s football, Clare Wheatley, are leading the search for their next head coach and are believed to have already had a clear idea of the profile of coach they would want to recruit, before Eidevall’s resignation.
Asked if she would be applying for the permanent job herself, when speaking at a press conference last week, the former Arsenal youth player Slegers said: “That is not on my mind.” She later added: “I just know I am appointed as interim coach and that is where my focus is now. The future, I have no idea.”
Arsenal are next in WSL action on 3 November, when they are away at Manchester United.
As well as the 2016 WSL title, when Manchester City completed an unbeaten “invincible” campaign, Cushing also won the Women’s FA Cup with the club in 2017, plus two League Cups, in 2014 and 2016.
