Former Barcelona Sporting Director Raul Sanllehi will join Arsenal as Director of Operations, according to latest reports.

Arsenal have been linked with the former Barca director ever since it was rumoured that he might be leaving his previous role.

In fact, the Mirror reported earlier this month that Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis is close friends with the Spaniard, which apparently made the appointment even more likely.

Now, reports in Spain from Sport via Sport Witness suggest the move is a done deal, claiming in their Wednesday edition that Sanllehi will become Arsenal’s Director of Operations.

Marca wrote earlier this month that Sanllehi negotiated the transfer of Neymar to Barcelona and convinced him to turn down Paris Saint-Germain in 2016.

But after the sale of Neymar and the club’s decision to pull out of a deal for Jean Michael Seri when Raul was already in Nice to negotiate the transfer, he decided to leave the Catalan club.

As for whether he would improve the situation at Arsenal, that’s up for debate. According to Sport Witness, Barcelona fans believe that the team have been hindered by their backroom staff, so that’s not a good sign.

But Arsenal supporters tend to think the same thing in my experience, and the Gunners haven’t got particularly good transfer deals in the past.

Wojciech Szczesny, Gabriel Paulista and Kieran Gibbs all left for £15m or less this summer, despite all approaching their peak years. If Sanllehi could bring in a bit more money for deals like that in the future, he’d be a good appointment.