One of Arsène Wenger’s former players looks set to embark on a Premier League managerial career.

Not Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry or Dennis Bergkamp, but Remi Garde is the heavy favourite to become the next permanent manager of Aston Villa after Tim Sherwood was relieved of his duties on Sunday.

The Frenchman managed French giants Olympique Lyonnais for three seasons but hasn’t been a role at a club since he left Lyon back in June 2014.

Now the job at Villa is available and the former defensive midfielder Garde could find himself back in the dugout.

“I remember when Remi arrived at Arsenal — actually on the same day as Patrick Vieira — and he was the most well- mannered, softly-spoken, quiet Frenchman you could ever meet,” former team-mate Ian Wright wrote in his column for The Sun.

“We had a couple of years as team-mates, and he had the air of someone who would always go into the other side of football some day.”

Garde played 31 Premier League games in three years at Arsenal, but was never a regular. Retiring at the age of 33 in 1999, he could be returning to the English game 16 years later.

“I saw captain Micah Richards getting really angry in their game the other day, even when they went down the tunnel,” Wright added. “That’s something Remi would sort out — because you need cool heads in Villa’s position if they hope to survive.”

Villa haven’t won in the league since August, and Wenger has already spoken about his players embarking on a managerial career in the last week or so, and will surely be happy to see one of his former players in an opposite dugout.

Garde would certainly receive a warm welcome at the Emirates Stadium, and it would be nice to see a former Arsenal player in the Premier League again.