Arsenal: Sven Mislintat commens unquestionably concerning

This week, Sven Mislintat revealed that Arsenal will move away from an analytical, statistical scouting process and follow the contacts and relationships of Raul Sanllehi, Unai Emery and now new technical director Edu. His comments are unquestionably concerning.

Sven Mislintat left Arsenal under a cloud of confusion and controversy. The former Borussia Dortmund chief scout was the head of recruitment at the Emirates, hired as a key individual to lead the club forward in the post-Arsene Wenger era. Less than a year after Wenger’s resignation, however, Mislintat, too, was on his way out.

Find the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal Podcast here — The Big Season Review

So what went wrong? How did Mislintat go from the heralded ‘diamond eye’ to the one walking out the door just as he was set to embark on the greatest challenge of his career?

More from Pain in the Arsenal

• 3 standout players from 1-0 victory over Everton
• 3 positives & negatives from Goodison Park victory
• Arsenal vs PSV preview: Prediction, team news & lineups
• 3 talking points from Arsenal’s victory at Goodison Park
• Mikel Arteta provides Gabriel Martinelli injury update after Everton win

Well, this week, Mislintat has been discussing the management structure at his now-former club and why he decided to depart. Speaking to 11Freunde, and as translated by Arseblog, Mislintat said — this is a long quote, but I wanted to provide the full comment:

"“At Arsenal, I was already fully responsible for transfers, as there was no sporting director But in England it isn’t usual [for the sporting director] to sit on the bench, so you’re much less visible Last summer there were leadership changes at Arsenal. It had actually been agreed that I would become technical director, so then I would be around the team on a daily basis. But the new leadership had their own agenda and other candidates. On top of that, we had different approaches. Previously we had a strong systematic approach to transfers. A mixture of watching things live as well as quality data and video analysis – Arsenal actually owns their own data company. That meant that we acted independently, we knew about all markets and players in all positions that came into question. However, the new leadership work more strongly with what they are offered from clubs or agents through their own networks.”"

The key — and most concerning — element of Mislintat’s comments for me is the last sentence: ‘the new leadership work strongly with what they are offered from clubs or agents through their own networks’. What else he says can be taken or leave somewhat. A lot of what he says is not specific to Arsenal, of course, and this is someone who left. It is not an impartial perspective. But his comments on how the club is now run is something that should be considered.

And those comments are not positive. Mislintat is obviously referring to Raul Sanllehi, the head of football who has grown in power ever since the exit of Ivan Gazidis a few months prior to Mislintat’s resignation. Sanllehi came from Barcelona is a heralded director of football throughout Europe. He will rely on his contacts to secure deals, just as he did when Denis Suarez was signed on a six-month loan last January.

Head coach Unai Emery was also influential in the deal, too much for Mislintat’s liking. There is a clear leaning towards what is already known, even if the summer deals that have been made or are soon to be made suggest otherwise. Mislintat wanted a more analytical approach, and it is concerning that Arsenal are veering away from that.

Perhaps it will all work out in the end. Perhaps Edu will come in and save the day. Perhaps Sanllehi and his contacts book will secure some good players. But Mislintat was obviously an extremely capable scout and his departure, and subsequent comments, are undoubtedly concerning.