Arsenal and Marc Overmars: Is Arsene Wenger weakening or is the club toughening?

Per reports, Arsenal are set to hire Marc Overmars as a sporting director next summer. Previously, Arsene Wenger has dismissed the suggestion of a sporting director. So, is he weakening or is the club toughening?

Arsene Wenger is his own man. He does things his way, and there is no arguing with that way. As the manager of Arsenal football club for 21 seasons, that has meant that, naturally, he has moulded the organisation into his likeness, into his image, into what he wants it to be. However, there has always been one topic of controversy that he has been unwilling to amend his position on. That is, a sporting director.

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Wenger has unequivocally rejected the benefit of a sporting director. It was only last May, when the pressure of a potential departure was at its peak, that he said the following:

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"“No, director of football, I don’t know what it means. Is it someone who stands on the road and directs the players left and right? I never understand what it means, director of football. I’m manager of Arsenal and as long as I am manager, I will decide what happens on the technical front. That’s it.”"

There is very little doubt in those words. Such is Wenger’s relentless focus on detail, wanting to be innately involved with every aspect of the running of the club, from the tactics on the pitch to the pies sold at the stadium, that he does not want to relinquish any aspect of that power to another figure. Or, at least, he didn’t.

Reports are surfacing that Arsenal are set to hire Marc Overmars as sporting director next summer. That is somewhat of a surprise given Wenger’s insistence that one would not be hired. However, that seems to be exactly what is happening.

So, that leads me to ask a question that I do not know, and perhaps never will know given the secrecy of football’s dealings, the answer to: Has Wenger weakened his approach to hiring a sporting director, showing signs that he is adapting his managerial ways, or have Arsenal and the board — likey Ivan Gazidis, who has admitted to wanting a sporting director in the past — exerted a little pressure, put their foot down, and hired one with or without the support of Wenger?

Neither of those scenarios are especially likely. Wenger is an extremely stubborn and steadfast man, who does not bow to the pressures of the media, his players, the fans, or even the club; Arsenal have been happy to let Wenger rule the roost as he so chooses, rarely impressing themselves on decisions that he must make, giving him power that no other manager in world football can claim to have.

If the reports are true, then there is only one other answer as to why the move has been made: Wenger is leaving at the end of the year. Seeing as he signed a two-year contract last summer, that is even harder to believe.

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This is a situation that utterly flies in the face of how Arsenal have been run throughout Wenger’s tenure. It simply doesn’t make sense. I do not know if Wenger has weakened his position; I do not know if Gazidis and the board have toughened. One thing I do know is that change is gonna come, and it will be very interesting to see how it all shakes out.