Arsenal make contact with Luis Enrique about succeeding Arsene Wenger – with Max Allegri and Brendan Rodgers also on radar

ARSENAL chiefs have spoken to Luis Enrique about succeeding Arsene Wenger as manager.

The Gunners are searching for a successor after sensationally SACKING their long-serving Frenchman.

Juventus chief Max Allegri remains a top target.

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers wants the job and the Scottish champions last night stated they would allow him to talk to Arsenal if the call came.

Enrique - who is also wanted by Chelsea - has spent the last year out of work having allowed his Barcelona contract to run out in the summer.

The Spaniard, 47, won the Treble in his first season at the Nou Camp and added another La Liga title and two more Copa del Reys to the trophy cabinet before leaving.

Arsenal chief Ivan Gazidis yesterday admitted finding Wenger's successor would not be easy.

He said: "We will have a process. We haven’t had any discussions today regarding that.

"I don’t underestimate the challenge of that.

"This club has to rise to the challenge. You don’t find a replacement for him, you find a new path forward."

Wenger stamped his free-flowing philosophy on Arsenal when he joined the club in 1996.

Gazidis added: ";Arsene changed the game, he set a totally new standard. A new ambition.

"Ambition not just to win, but to win while making perfection.

"And he was always brave enough to be true to that ambition and incredibly he achieved it with the Invincibles.

"Arsenal truly has a football philosophy.

"We aren't going to find a replacement for Arsene.

"He is an extraordinary manager and person. He came into the game 22 years ago when the game was very different and it’s evolved in many ways, and Arsene has evolved with it.

"The football club is now in a very different place."