An era of chaotic change at Arsenal

The hierarchy at Arsenal has gone under some major changes over recent years. The departure of Arsene Wenger from the club saw the need for a huge amount of recruitment in the executive area. The French manager had so many responsibilities during his 22 years at the club that when he left it was necessary for multiple acquisitions to be made to cover the roles.

The at the time CEO Ivan Gazidis brought in Sven Mislintat and Raul Sanhelli in from Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona respectively. Huss Fahmy joined from Team Sky as Head of Football Operations and to be the club’s main contract negotiator. Unai Emery was ultimately made head coach and took care of all the on-field matters.

LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 03: Arsenal Chief Executive Ivan Gazidis looks on prior to kickoff during the Barclays Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal FC at White Hart Lane on March 3, 2013 in London, England. (Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images)

However, things began to unravel at the club after a string of poor performances on the pitch and a less than impressive number of transfer windows which saw huge amounts of money paid on player’s fees and wages such as Nicolas Pepe and David Luiz who ultimately failed to impress.

One by one, beginning with Gazidis shortly after Wenger left, these senior figures moved on. The American CEO joined AC Milan, Mislintat left after a conflict of mindsets with the club and eventually joined Stuttgart, Unai Emery was sacked in 2019 after a string of poor performances, Sanhelli was shown the door for reasons which are still speculated and Huss Fahmy handed in his notice recently and left.

COLOGNE, GERMANY – JUNE 23: Sven Mislintat of the DFB Pro Licence Course 2010/2011 poses during the photocall at the Rheinenergie Stadium on June 23, 2010 in Cologne, Germany. (Photo by Friedemann Vogel/Bongarts/Getty Images)

In the meantime, during the pandemic 55 members of staff which incorporated members of the recruitment team including experienced figures such as Francis Cagigao and Brian McDermott were made redundant.

This has left the club with a very inexperienced group of people leading it forwards underneath the owner Stan Kroenke. His son, Josh (40), acts as a director at the club and a direct line of communication to his father, Mikel Arteta (38) took over from Emery and has won the FA Cup since his appointment, Edu Gaspar (42) became technical director to effectively replace Mislintat and Vinai Venkatesham (40) who gained a similar role to Gazidis when Sanhelli departed.

Replacing Fahmy with Garlic

Since the departure of Fahmy, there had been no one to step into the contractual negotiation role which was filled by the former Team Sky employee. This is now set to change according to The Athletic who have reported that the Premier League’s director of football Richard Garlic is set to be appointed as director of football operations.

What this means is that Garlic will take over all of the contractual negotiation responsibilities which will be used to both renew players and in signing possible incoming talent.

With him joining in January, there could be some work still to do with players being targeted by Arsenal such as Norwich City’s Emi Buendia. Plus there is the negotiation process which is continuing with youngster Folarin Balogun. There were suggestions that the 19-year-old had received an offer from RB Leipzig and was set to leave Arsenal however that was reportedly not the case.

Folarin Balogun has received more than 15 bids as a free agent for next summer. His contract situation with Arsenal is stalling, still complicated because he wants to play. 🔴 #AFC

RB Leipzig have *not* made an official bid to sign Balogun as of today. ⛔️ #RBLeipzig

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 13, 2021

Arsenal have struggled to agree a deal with Balogun, could it be possible that the incoming Garlic will find more luck in discussions with the player?

Arsenal have also given out large contracts to players such as Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang with mixed results. This may be an area that Garlic will assess in future contract negotiations with players and could mean Arsenal refuse to pay big two players and instead let them leave.

Former Arsenal recruitment specialist Sven Mislintat has Stuttgart contract extended after overseeing fantastic squad construction and league competitiveness

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Arsenal vs Crystal Palace odds: result, both teams to score, correct score & goalscorers

Arsenal vs Crystal Palace Result/Both teams score	Yes	No
Arsenal	11/4	13/8
Crystal Palace	10/1	8/1
Draw	4/1	9/1

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Premier League table

#	Team	MP	D	P
1	Manchester United FC	17	10	36
2	Liverpool FC	17	16	33
3	Leicester City FC	17	10	32
4	Everton FC	17	7	32
5	Tottenham Hotspur FC	16	14	29
6	Manchester City FC	15	11	29
7	Southampton FC	17	7	29
8	Aston Villa FC	15	13	26
9	Chelsea FC	17	11	26
10	West Ham United FC	17	3	26
11	Arsenal FC	17	1	23
12	Leeds United	17	-3	23
13	Crystal Palace FC	17	-7	22
14	Wolverhampton Wanderers FC	18	-7	22
15	Newcastle United FC	17	-9	19
16	Burnley FC	16	-12	16
17	Brighton & Hove Albion FC	17	-7	14
18	Fulham FC	15	-10	11
19	West Bromwich Albion	17	-28	8
20	Sheffield United FC	18	-20	5

Player	Team	Goals
Salah, Mohamed	Liverpool FC	13
Son, Heung Min	Tottenham Hotspur FC	12
Kane, Harry	Tottenham Hotspur FC	11
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United FC	11
Vardy, Jamie	Leicester City FC	11
Calvert-Lewin, Dominic	Everton FC	11
Bamford, Patrick	Leeds United	10
Zaha, Wilfried	Crystal Palace FC	8
Wilson, Callum	Newcastle United FC	8
Rashford, Marcus	Manchester United FC	7
Ings, Danny	Southampton FC	7
Lacazette, Alexandre	Arsenal FC	7
Mane, Sadio	Liverpool FC	6
Watkins, Ollie	Aston Villa FC	6
Maupay, Neal	Brighton & Hove Albion FC	6
Abraham, Tammy	Chelsea FC	6
Grealish, Jack	Aston Villa FC	5
Firmino, Roberto	Liverpool FC	5
Barnes, Harvey	Leicester City FC	5
Soucek, Tomas	West Ham United FC	5

Player	Team	Red Cards	Yellow Cards
Bellerin, Hector	Arsenal FC	0	6
Bissouma, Yves	Brighton & Hove Albion FC	1	5
Hayden, Isaac	Newcastle United FC	0	6
Doucoure, Abdoulaye	Everton FC	0	5
Romeu, Oriol	Southampton FC	0	5
Dunk, Lewis	Brighton & Hove Albion FC	1	4
Phillips, Kalvin	Leeds United	0	5
Cash, Matty	Aston Villa FC	0	5
Gallagher, Conor	West Bromwich Albion	0	5
Evans, Jonny	Leicester City FC	0	5
Kante, N`Golo	Chelsea FC	0	5
Milivojevic, Luka	Crystal Palace FC	1	4
Egan, John	Sheffield United FC	1	4
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United FC	0	4
Grealish, Jack	Aston Villa FC	0	4
Ward-Prowse, James	Southampton FC	0	4
Klich, Mateusz	Leeds United	0	4
McGinn, John	Aston Villa FC	0	4
Reid, Bobby	Fulham FC	0	4
Tielemans, Youri	Leicester City FC	0	4

Player	Team	Assists
Kane, Harry	Tottenham Hotspur FC	11
De Bruyne, Kevin	Manchester City FC	8
Fernandes, Bruno	Manchester United FC	7
Grealish, Jack	Aston Villa FC	7
Son, Heung Min	Tottenham Hotspur FC	5
Rashford, Marcus	Manchester United FC	5
Robertson, Andrew	Liverpool FC	5
Digne, Lucas	Everton FC	5
Vardy, Jamie	Leicester City FC	4
Ward-Prowse, James	Southampton FC	4
Werner, Timo	Chelsea FC	4
Adams, Che	Southampton FC	4
Harrison, Jack	Leeds United	4
Chilwell, Benjamin	Chelsea FC	4
McGinn, John	Aston Villa FC	4
Cresswell, Aaron	West Ham United FC	4
Salah, Mohamed	Liverpool FC	3
Ings, Danny	Southampton FC	3
Firmino, Roberto	Liverpool FC	3
Sterling, Raheem	Manchester City FC	3