Arsenal: Marc Overmars pending return an admission of defeat

Arsenal are reportedly set to welcome back former star Marc Overmars in the capacity of Sporting Director, which is like an admission of defeat for Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal has not had a sporting director since David Dein left. The supposed “answer” was Ivan Gazidis, who became CEO of the club. But other than collecting his yearly bonus, I’m not sure what else he actually does.

He says some positive things from time to time, none of which ever come to pass.

But this looks to be coming to an end, as the Sun (dubious) is reporting that Marc Overmars is set to return to the club as the first sporting director the club has had since Dein. Nothing like setting the standards high.

Not only does he have to follow the man who helped build the modern Arsenal, but he has to do it after a decade-long void.

But this is a big step for Arsene Wenger. Le Prof is not one to backtrack on a path he has taken. He was given complete control of proceedings within the club and since that happened, it has become clear that he needs help. A manager should not be responsible for running everything within the team, from match-ups to transfer moves.

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There just isn’t any need to ask him to multitask so much. Especially when you see it isn’t working.

Just like the formation struggles, it took Wenger so long to make any adjustments. Maybe it was pride, maybe it was just some sort of belief that he was right all along. Changing formations – changing anything, really – is an admission of defeat of sorts.

You acknowledge that what you had either wasn’t working or needed to change for fear that it wouldn’t work.

That’s not to say it’s a bad thing. You know what they say (and what we should all know), you learn the most in failure. You can’t succeed all the time. Arsene Wenger has not succeeded all that much recently, FA Cups excluding, and one of his biggest stumbling blocks has been the transfer market.

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That’s what Overmars is here to do (let’s just hope that it’s adone deal). It’s a shame that he will only be around for the last year of Wenger contract, assuming their isn’t another contract. Because the possibilities are tantalizing when thinking of how much would be different had he been here the past five years or so.