Arsenal’s transfer setup is getting more complicated with a number of new appointments over the last year. We’ve broken that down with an overview what they all do.
Although Arsene Wenger insists things are “no different”, the new appointments suggest otherwise.
After over 20 years, Steve Rowley stepped down from his role for Sven Mislintat. Raul Sanllehi joined as head of football relations, and Huss Fahmy as contract negotiator.
How do they all fit together?
1Scouting – Mislintat and Cagigao
Contrary to what you might read on Twitter, Sven Mislintat isn’t going out and signing players on his own without Wenger’s permission.
In fact, he’s not signing players at all.
The German is known as ‘head of player recruitment’, but that means he’s in charge of the scouting network.
He’ll co-ordinate Arsenal’s scouts, and present their findings to Wenger as recommendations.
It’s up to the Gunners’ boss to take things from there.
If he trusts Mislintat’s judgement, then he’ll probably end up trying to bring in the players the 45-year-old suggests.
That’s what we’ve seen with Konstantinos Mavropanos, and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Mislintat will work on his role alongside Francis Cagigao, who is currently the head of international recruitment at the club.
Cagigao reportedly played an important part in signing Fabregas, Bellerin and Cazorla, among others.
2Negotiations – Gazidis, Sanllehi and Fahmy
At the moment, Raul Sanllehi still hasn’t started his role at Arsenal. His contract doesn’t officially commence until February, so for now he’s just shadowing Dick Law.
From February, he’ll lead transfer negotiations, alongside Wenger, Ivan Gazidis and Huss Fahmy. The Spaniard’s job title is ‘head of football relations’.
Once Wenger decides on a target, Sanllehi and Gazidis will be in charge of negotiating a deal. Then Fahmy will take over for the final details.
Fahmy started last summer, and he’s the club’s new contract negotiator. He’s a legal expert, and along with Sanllehi he’s taking over the duties Dick Law used to perform.
His job centres around closing negotiations and getting contracts signed.
3Sign off – Wenger, Gazidis and Kroenke
Once Gazidis, Sanllehi and Fahmy have done their job to negotiate a deal, it’s up to the manager whether it goes through.
It’s always possible they work on one transfer only for another area of the pitch to become more important. Wenger, therefore, has the final say on whether Arsenal sign someone.
After Wenger gives the all clear, it’s up to Gazidis and majority shareholder Kroenke to sanction a release of funds.
Given Gazidis’ involvement earlier in the process, his agreement shouldn’t be a problem.
Considering Kroenke’s lack of involvement in the club on the pitch, I doubt he’ll raise any objections either.
They both sign off, and Arsenal get the player.
Simple as that. Or at least, it should be.