ALL CHANGE AT ARSENAL
Head of football out and Aubameyang stays
ARSENAL are moving on without head of football Raul Sanllehi. The club are finalising Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s new threeyear deal, worth over £250,000 per week.
They are also working on a deal to sign Lille defender Gabriel Magalhaes.
All in all, it is gearing up to be a another summer of change at the Emirates Stadium.
But Mikel Arteta’s revolution will be conducted without Sanllehi (right) — who arrived in 2017 to much fanfare, only to quietly slip out of the Emirates back door two and a half years on.
Arsenal’s announcement on Saturday morning that Sanllehi, 53, was leaving came without warning, despite the decision to make 55 redundancies the previous week. The arrival of corporate lawyer Tim Lewis to Arsenal’s non-executive board in June appears a pivotal appointment.
Lewis, a partner of respected law firm Clifford Chance, has a long relationship with owner Stan Kroenke and son Josh. He has analysed a number of the club’s transfers over recent seasons to ensure value.
Last summer’s clubrecord £72million capture of Nicolas Pepe was structured so Arsenal would pay £20m up front with the rest due over five years.
Sanllehi believed he had struck a good deal with Lille and Pepe enjoyed a decent first season at Arsenal.
But supporters probably expected more for £72m. More pertinently, so did the Kroenkes. Sanllehi had a way of working that was significantly removed from Arsene Wenger’s principles. The Spaniard has strong relationships with the top agents, while former Arsenal manager Wenger was never completely comfortable operating in those circles. But Sanllehi’s links with the likes of Arturo Canales, Kia Joorabchian and Jorge Mendes would — it was hoped — add a layer of protection for the club. To a degree, that has proved correct. Willian, who arrived on a free transfer from Chelsea last week, is a Joorabchian client. The fact manager Frank Lampard was desperate for Willian to stay at Stamford Bridge points to the coup Arsenal believe they have pulled off by signing the Brazilian on a relatively low basic wage of £100,000 per week — although that increases substantially if all the bonus triggers are met.
Importantly, Arteta is known to be fully behind Willian’s arrival.
So what now in the post-Sanllehi era?
Well, Edu’s work will certainly be thrust into the spotlight.
The Brazilian has kept a relatively low profile since his appointment as technical director in July 2019.
But with no immediate plans to replace Sanllehi, Edu’s power at Arsenal will increase significantly.
Time will tell if he can hold the sort of sway with the super agents that Sanllehi enjoyed, although Edu is well known to have strong connections with Joorabchian.
Edu will now work closely with Arteta in identifying and delivering new signings, with talks over a £30m move for defender Magalhaes well underway.
Aubameyang has verbally agreed to sign his fresh terms.
Arteta and Edu are understood to enjoy a good working relationship — and the fact that both operated in the Arsenal midfield during stages of their playing careers means they certainly have common ground.
Indeed, the Kroenkes are hoping the Arteta and Edu partnership — working with hugely popular managing director Vinai Venkatesham — can propel Arsenal back to Europe’s elite.
But let’s not forget that they hoped for exactly the same when they appointed Sanllehi.