Initially revealed by David Ornstein of The Athletic, Arsenal have now confirmed that Premier League DoF Richard Garlick is about to leave his position to become their Director of Football Operations.
It is understood that Garlick will make the move later this year and fill the hole created when Huss Fahmy officially left the club at the end of November last year. Garlick has worked in his current role since 2018, but will now join the Gunners and take on the role of overseeing all contractual negotiations with playing staff and potential signings.
More About Richard Garlick
Richard Garlick began his career as a qualified solicitor. Specialising in sports law, he worked at numerous law firms before making the move into football administration. His first position in the sport was for West Bromwich Albion in a similar position to what he will have at Arsenal. As the Director of Football Administration, he oversaw the contractual side of the playing staff and incoming players.
Garlick took on the role of Director of Football at the Premier League in the summer of 2018 and has been overseeing a broad range of football operations including youth development, coaching, and player education.
It would seem that he is missing the day-to-day operations working within a football club and is set to step into a top executive job at one of the UK’s biggest.
What Richard Garlick will bring to Arsenal?
Richard Garlick comes with expert qualified knowledge of sports law and has experience performing this role at another big club in the UK. That combination will appeal to Arsenal as he will handle big-money contracts and negotiating with top players both at the club and around the world.
He will work closely with Edu and Arteta and handle the contractual side of transfer negotiations as well as negotiations with current playing staff.
Garlick could have his work cut out
As mentioned by 101greatgoals news, Garlick may find himself walking straight into contractual negotiations as soon as he arrives. Currently, there are four players out of contract in the summer and a number of others that will be approaching the last year of their contracts. Add that to the contract negotiations of any possible incomings during the summer and Garlick could be a very busy man.
Arguably, they could do with him now as the club is in ongoing talks with Mesut Ozil as they hope to agree a deal to cancel his contract. The Ozil saga has gone on for some time now, but it finally looks to be coming to a conclusion.
Another player unlikely to be at Arsenal long is Sokratis, who is out of contract in the summer and out of contention for the first team. He is rumoured to be interesting the Turkish club Fenerbahce. Shkodran Mustafi is also rumoured to have rejected a new contract at Arsenal and allegedly wants to play in Italy to be closer to his wife.
As for David Luiz, Arteta has come out and claimed that the 33-year-old could still be offered a new contract at the club. Having earned a one-year extension this time last season, Luiz could have done the same, having displayed that age has not totally caught up with him yet.
There is certainly a lot waiting for Garlick to sort out, but it would seem that the club are confident they have got the right man in to do it. Hopefully, he can help negotiate some much-needed reinforcements should those all leave.