Arsenal: Sven Mislintat departure just proves calamity

Sven Mislintat is reportedly unsettled at Arsenal and could be snatched away by Bayern Munich. His departure would prove the calamity that the Gunners are.

When Arsene Wenger — and Ivan Gazidis soon after — exited Arsenal in the summer, there was a fear that he might be leaving a club in a rather sorry and unsettled state. Not only was the man who had dictated every detail of the organisation for more than two decades leaving, but the results had tailed off, the wage bill was unaffordably high, and the Premier League was, and still is, in its most competitive era.

Find the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here – The 2018 Review

To help smooth the process from one manager to another, Gazidis turned to a more modern set-up, hiring Raul Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat as key managerial pieces behind the scenes — Sanllehi would have everything but the title of Director of Football and Mislintat was named the Head of Recruitment. These two were the new linchpin on which the new Arsenal would be built.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

Once Wenger had resigned, by the force of Gazidis and this new team, Unai Emery was appointed as Head Coach. It was a pointed significance that he was not given the title ‘manager’. This was the new set-up of the club. Even when Gazidis surprisingly exited for AC Milan a couple of months after Emery’s hiring, Sanllehi, Mislintat and Emery comprised the managerial triumvirate that Arsenal had chosen to trust.

The project that Gazidis and Emery discussed in the summer was always going to take years. That meant that this team of people, each with their own individual responsibilities but coming together in tandem to work for the collective benefit of the club, had to be patient and cohesive. They would require years and it would be vital for them to be happy working with one another and trusting one another’s work, each understanding the relative power structures and weighting of opinion when decisions are made.

Now, just six months into their first season at the helm, the unit is already fraying at the seams. According to The Independent, Mislintat is frustrated with the level of control that Emery is wanting over transfers, something that he was hired to run, has not settled alongside Sanllehi, with the Spaniard reportedly not following up on players that Mislintat directly recommended to him.

Without knowing the details, I think it is clear to see what has happened here: the power has not been fairly shared, in Mislintat’s eyes, and the structures were either not put in place when Emery arrived, changed when Emery arrived, or have been actively ignored by Sanllehi and Emery, thus upsetting Mislintat who feels that his expertise in recruitment is not being listened to and followed.

The report also claims that Bayern Munich are attempting to hire the former Borussia Dortmund scout as they seek a major overhaul of their drastically ageing squad. Mislintat is renowned as one of the best talent spotters in world football and Bayern entrust him with finding players to refreshen their team. Arsenal, apparently, do not.

dark. Next. Arsenal Vs West Ham: 5 things we learned

Because we do not know the details of the situation, most of this is mere speculation and conjecture. Only Sanllehi, Mislintat and Emery really know what has gone down between them and who is in the right and who is in the wrong. But there is one thing that this whole ordeal — which is far from over — does prove: Arsenal are a calamity. Does anyone want Wenger back?

Home/Arsenal News