Arsenal: Ivan Gazidis jumping ship, or is his job complete?

Arsenal may be losing a key member of the club, but it’s not a player, it’s Ivan Gazidis. What exactly is the nature of his potential exit, though?

Arsenal CEO Ivan Gazidis, who has been a hotly contested name over the past few years, is reportedly going to be joining AC Milan come September, ending his tenure at the Emirates despite the progress the club is making.

Most of that progress is thanks to him. It was Gazidis who started orchestrating the changes that started last summer. He is the one that brought in Sven Mislintat, Raul Sanllehi, Russ Fahrmy, the entire transfer crew was brought in by Gazidis.

Which, by extension, would mean that all of the recent transfers are here because Ivan Gazidis put all of these changes in place. That is the inescapable truth of the matter.

And now we are hearing from SkySports that Gazidis is going to be leaving this project, this project that he is orchestrating, to join up with AC Milan.

It’s a bit of a blow to weather. Two years ago, any exit up to would have been welcomed. But now, with the changes rolling in, something like this seems like a major disruption in the formula. Which is why I now have to ask – is it though?

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Is Gazidis jumping ship on a project in motion or is his job done? He gave us Mislintat, Sanllehi and more, all of whom can run this club’s day-to-day and handle their transfers, as they are proving to be quite adept at.

Gazidis was here to make major changes, which he did. Now that those major changes are in place, the biggest part of his job is complete. And granted, no job is ever complete, there will always be more to do, but when that time happens, we have a lot of the right pieces in place to ensure that it can be done competently.

That’s why I don’t see this as Gazidis jumping ship. I see it as him going after another challenge. Hell, maybe he’s tired of working with Stan Kroenke too.

Whatever the case, while it initially seems like a betrayal of sorts, a jumping ship, it’s not like that at all. At least I don’t see it that way. We are a train in motion. A conductor isn’t needed as much when the train is already in motion.

If Gazidis wants a new challenge, let him handle it. The only problem is if we have to face a resurgent AC Milan in the future and they have Gazidis to thank for the changes. That’s when things will get testy.

But until that time comes to pass, the sting is a bit muted.