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Football

15th Jan 2019

Arsenal head of recruitment Sven Mislintat to leave club over transfer strategy

Wayne Farry

sven mislintat

Mislintat joined the club prior to Arsene Wenger’s final season at the club

Arsenal’s head of recruitment Sven Mislintat is set to leave the club due to fundamental disagreements over the club’s transfer strategy, just over a year after he was tasked with modernising the club’s recruitment towards the end of Arsene Wenger’s tenure at the club.

Mislintat moved to the Emirates Stadium with a stellar reputation, after bringing hitherto undervalued players like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Borussia Dortmund. Aubameyang would eventually join Mislintat at Arsenal, while his brand of analytical scouting also saw success stories like Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi arrive at the club during the summer.

According to a report by Raphael Honigstein, Mislintat had grown disillusioned with the club after the previous head of football relations, Raul Sanllehi, was named head of football after the departure of former chairman Ivan Gazidis.

Sanllehi, to whom Mislintat directly reported, is reported to have had a different vision for Arsenal’s recruitment strategy – using his own network of contacts rather than Mislintat’s methods.

Should Mislintat leave the club, it has been reported by the Independent that Bayern Munich are interested in recruiting him in a bid to help revitalise their squad.