The mere mention of Sven Mislintat’s name in an article is enough to get fans excited so what has the former Borussia Dortmund man been up to since he arrived at the club?

Let’s take a look at the background, hopes, reality and verdict of the Arsenal adventure so far…

The background

In November Arsenal announced that they were signing Borussia Dortmund’s head of recruitment, Sven Mislintat. Fans were excited by the signing, hoping it was a signal of Ivan Gazidis’s catalyst finally starting to fire.

Mislintat started his career with Dortmund all the way back in 1998 when he was 25. He joined the German club as a game analyst, a title he held until 2007. During the intervening years, he also worked as assistant coach for local team Vfl Kamen and tier 5 outfit Westfalia Herne.

In 2007, he received a promotion from Dortmund, becoming a scout. Two years later, he was made Chief scout, before being made Director of Football in January 2017. This latest promotion was seemingly an attempt to keep Mislintat at the club, after approaches from European giants.

Whilst in Germany, Mislintat was part of a very effective scouting team, working alongside sporting director Michael Zorc and chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke. This gave him the freedom to focus on scouting, which is his forte.

Despite the signings of players such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ousmane Dembele, Mislintat considers Shinji Kagawa to be his greatest scouting success. “The key player for my career as a scout was Shinji Kagawa,” he said. “When you find a young player in a second division and he joins for small money and can make the difference: That’s a key moment everyone needs in his career.”

Kagawa joined the club for €350k, scored 29 goals and provided 16 assists in 71 appearances, before leaving for €16m. He then rejoined the club for €8m, leaving Dortmund with almost €8m profit and the player they signed in the first place. Seven years after the initial transfer to Germany, Shinji is still playing for Dortmund, and must surely be one of the top imports from the J-League.

Arsenal have attempted to look for talent from further afield but without similar success. Like Kagawa, Ryo Miyaichi and Takuma Asano swapped Japan for European football, but neither have been particularly successful so far. Meanwhile, Dortmund’s conveyor belt of talent continues to roll on, with Mats Hummels, Jakub Blaszyczkowski and Robert Lewandowski joining many more that Mislintat helped the German side recruit.

The Gunners’ newest recruitment head may have to do more than just scouting, however. Arsenal released a statement after his appointment which revealed he’ll be working closely with Wenger and chief executive Ivan Gazidis on the transfer front. Mislintat will also be working with the coaches, background analytics team and the global scouting network.

It sounds like he’s meant to be the cog that links the scouts and the analytics teams to the manager and CEO, to ensure they have the best information available to make decisions on transfers.

Next, the hopes for Sven Mislintat, the reality and the verdict…

The hopes

The former Borussia Dortmund man admitted it’s unlikely he’ll help the Gunners sign the likes of Ousmane Dembélé every window.

“Going by the press in England and Germany, they expect me to sign a Dembélé in each transfer window,” Mislintat told Kicker. “I’m being put on an incredibly high pedestal.”

The 45-year-old has been credited with finding a host of talent and the buzz surrounding his appointment is justified. However, as he suggests, he’s not a miracle-worker.

In an interview with German publication Kicker, he was asked if there was an agreement in place that would prevent him scouting players at his former club, Borussia Dortmund.

According to the scout, their players are very much fair game as we saw with Aubameyang.

“No. I have the utmost respect for my old club. In all aspects. But, the fact is, we’re rivals now,” he said.

It was hoped that when Mislintat arrived he could bring his ‘diamond eye’ to a tired and struggling Arsenal scouting network that had lost pace with the top clubs and was struggling to unearth gems that had hallmarked Arsene Wenger’s early years at the club.

Next, the reality of Sven Mislintat and the verdict

The reality

Mislintat got to work right away.

Arsenal completed the signing of Mavropanos from Greek side PAS Giannina for a fee believed to be between £1.8m and £2.2m depending on where you do your reading.

The signing was out of left-field for Arsenal and it seems that Mislintat scouted Mavropanos for Dortmund before his move to Arsenal. Mislintat has links with the Greek market after finding 18-year-old Argiris Kampetsis from Olympiacos and helping him sign for Dortmund last summer and he may have unearthed another gem in Mavropanos.

Although the 20-year-old centre-back isn’t exactly the big name signing Arsenal fans consistently crave, he’s a strong addition for the future.

Mislintat was also credited with playing a key role in bringing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Dortmund to Arsenal in January.

It was claimed that he is also the reason Arsenal went after Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Manchester United.

According to the Daily Mail, Mislintat is a huge fan of Mkhitaryan. The midfielder played for Borussia Dortmund while the scout was there, and the 45-year-old was keen to bring the Armenian to Arsenal.

Arsene Wenger did not take to the new arrival well at first. In fact, the manager was positively testy when asked about Mislintat. “We knew every player in Europe, even before Sven came to us,” Wenger said. “Sometimes in a little club in Germany, he might know somebody that we might ignore.”

Wenger even referred to Mavropanos as that ‘Greek boy.’ Wenger’s tone seemed flippant and borderline disrespectful.

It also made it very clear that the Frenchman had nothing to do with signing the 20-year-old – as was suspected.

Next, the verdict on Sven Mislintat

The verdict

It is still very early in Mislintat’s Arsenal career, but the good news is he can see himself staying at Arsenal for 10 years.

Despite only being at the club for a  few months he has certainly made an impact.

Quite how much he has to do with the new players that are arriving or close to arriving is hard to say, but there’s no doubting there seems to be a new approach from Arsenal in terms of signing players and that can only be applauded.

“I was born in Dortmund, I’m a Dortmund kid, I studied here,” Mislintat said. “Of course I won’t rule it out but I’m not leaving with the intention to return. I’m following my path to develop further and I want to keep learning. 

“At Arsenal I want to do the very best job I can do. I’m excited for the challenge and can easily imagine myself at Arsenal, in London, for 10, 12 years as long as my family and I feel at home there.”

Nicknamed “Diamond Eye” for his ability to spot talent, Mislintat arrived at the club with a big reputation.

So far, he seems to be living up to it and the German transfer guru can help take Arsenal to a new level if he can replicate his Dortmund success in England.