Arsenal’s new managing director Vinai Venkatesham has confirmed that Per Mertesacker has joined the club’s executive team, and the German is unlikely to be the last player to do so.

Venkatesham explained that the club are trying to get more experience from the football side of the club involved in their executive team. Mertesacker makes sense as a first pick, given he’s now the academy manager, and he used to be the club captain. Perhaps we’ll see more as time goes by though.

“One of the things that we have been doing is actually increasing the level of football representation on that group,” Venkatesham said. “Per Mertesacker is also now on our executive team. We really are getting a new level of expertise and a new energy in our executive team.

“Having someone like Per, his record goes without saying. The club captain from last season, hugely respected by everyone in the game. I think that will really add something.”

It really seems like the new management team are making a concerted effort not to shut themselves off from the rest of the club. From bringing former players into their executive team to subsidising the cost of the Arsenal Supporters’ Trust Christmas meeting, they’re doing everything they can to win people over.

Call it a PR offensive, but it’s one Arsenal certainly needed. The club’s last AGM showed just how disillusioned many fans had become with the higher-ups, holding protest votes and giving passionate speeches against the way things were being run.

Hopefully, results on the pitch and greater engagement between the executive team, the players and the fans will create a much more positive atmosphere at the Emirates Stadium.