Arsenal and Ivan Gazidis exit: So what now?

Ivan Gazidis has left Arsenal. More surprisingly, Arsenal have not directly replaced Ivan Gazidis. There is a new structure to bring about this new era.

When Arsene Wenger resigned and departed at the end of last season, Arsenal chose not to replace him. Rather than appoint an individual to simply succeed his role, they instead decided to reshape and restructure the organisation of the club. Unai Emery was subsequently hired not as ‘manager’ but ‘head coach’.

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And now, just a matter of months later, the man who engineered that monumental, era-shifting change is also moving to pastures new, although, this time, it is him and not the club that is driving the evolution. Ivan Gazidis will become AC Milan’s Chief Executive, leaving his role as CEO at Arsenal.

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His decision to leave is not a surprising one. It has been rumoured for some time. Few doubted its inevitability. But what is surprising is how Gazidis will be replaced. Like Wenger, there will not be a replacement, not a direct one, anyway. Instead, and very much mirroring the Wenger succession plan, there will be a shuffling of the pack to corporately replicate the impact that Gazidis imparted.

Raul Sanllehi, who was only just hired as Head of Relations, will now shift into a role titled ‘Head of Football’, and he will be joined by Vinai Venkatesham who was elevated from Chief Commercial Officer to Managing Director. Like with Wenger, no one person can replace Gazidis.

And Arsenal are obviously bullish about this reshuffle. In the statement announcing the news on Tuesday morning, Josh Kroenke, son of owner Stan and an individual who is noticeably taking a front-facing position amid all this change and uncertainty, stated:

"“We are confident we have outstanding people in Raul and Vinai, and we look forward to working with them and coach Unai Emery to continue to move the club forward on  and off the pitch.”"

Chairman Sir Chips Keswick echoed that sentiment with an equally polished line:

"“The club has been transformed and he has recruited talented people, such as Raul, Vinai and of course Unai Emery, who will take us to future success.”"

But, for now, there is a team of experts who collectively and corporately make commercial, financial and footballing decisions together. Sanllehi as Head of Football, Venkatesham as Managing Director, Sven Mislintat as Head of Recruitment, Huss Fahmy as a contracts expert, Darren Burgess, the Director of Elite Performance and, finally, Unai Emery as Head Coach.

But, for now, there is a team of experts who collectively and corporately make commercial, financial and footballing decisions together. Sanllehi as Head of Football, Venkatesham as Managing Director, Sven Mislintat as Head of Recruitment, Huss Fahmy as a contracts expert, Darren Burgess, the Director of Elite Performance and, finally, Unai Emery as Head Coach.