The fact Unai Emery is being widely mocked over his inability to speak English fluently has made talkSPORT host Natalie Sawyer uncomfortable, she has revealed.
Emery, who is under real pressure at Arsenal, has become a target of abuse over his insistence on starting interviews with a polite ‘good evening’.
However, the Spaniard’s inability to pronounce the letter ‘v’ correctly means he actually says ‘good ebening’ – a mistake causing widespread amusement.
These jokes have ramped up with Emery now frequently mocked over his language struggles, and Leicester fans chanted, ‘you’re getting sacked in the ebening’, as they watched their side beat Arsenal 2-0 on Saturday.
Even Gary Lineker, the former England striker and current Match of the Day host, has used the ‘ebening’ jibe to make a joke at Piers Morgan’s expense on social media.
And while some may feel such comments are nothing more than light-hearted humour at Emery’s expense, Sawyer told talkSPORT she is beginning to feel for the Spaniard as he gets publicly mocked week in, week out.
Sawyer said of Emery: “Something that is really getting to me is the amount of ridicule he is getting on social media – I mean, everywhere in fact – for the way he speaks.
“Even celebrated broadcasters are getting involved and mocking him, you could say, and it’s started to make me feel a bit uncomfortable.
“Emery is coming out and fronting the media every time and he doesn’t have an interpreter – he is just going for it.
“Let’s think back to Marcelo Bielsa at Leeds, or Mauricio Pochettino, when he first moved to Southampton and then went to Tottenham, who had a translator for ages.
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“There is nothing wrong with that at all – if you are not comfortable speaking a second language I can fully understand having an interpreter. That is fine.
“But Unai Emery doesn’t have a translator; he has decided, ‘I am going to go out and speak and do my best to speak in what is not my native language’.
“Okay, maybe at times you might not quite understand what he is saying, but it is getting to a point where it’s getting a bit out of hand when people are constantly mocking him.”
You can watch a clip of Natalie Sawyer on talkSPORT, above…
