The streets around North London may be rejoicing at present, as the signing of Pierre Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and the renewal of Mesut Ozil help to mask the league position and the absence of Alexi Sanchez. Rightly so, why shouldn’t they? Well they should, the Chilean wanted away, the window has been a success, but this shouldn’t be how the fans expect future windows to be. This has been a successful moth but a reactive one and the new men changing the face of Arsenal have dealt out of necessity rather than strategy. The future of Arsenal will be structured in a much more holistic manner and it is one to be excited about.
One thing is clear, there are new men in place at Arsenal who have been put in place to look after the club’s structure after Arsene Wenger departs. This is the model implemented by most, if not all European leagues and sees the coach, replace the manager. The manager after all represents a low-level title in a world where football is now corporate. One man cannot oversee a club that needs commercial excellence, economic sense, stratagem of many different varieties, an aggressive yet sympathetic social media, marketing of the highest level, and a scouting network that must coexist in a world where FIFA 18 and Football Manager actually employ more scouts. Don’t forget, this demi-god would have to coach to and yes this also surprisingly is important.
Ivan Gazidis has just walked onto the stage and he introduces the following. Sven Mislintat (Chief Scout – ex-Borussia Dortmund), Raul Sanllehi (Sporting Director – in all but name – ex-Barcelona), Huss Fahmy (Commercial and Business Director – ex-Team Sky) and Darren Burgess (Fitness and Conditioning expert – ex- Australian Rules Football and Liverpool). These are the men tasked of bringing Arsenal into the new century that their surroundings represent. They are to have a strategy and the expertise to allow the club to operate over the next 10-20 years no matter which coach comes in. The coaches’ role will simply be to advise what players he would like and if we are honest, to coach what he is given. The reason is that Sanllehi and Mislintat will as at Juventus, Barcelona or Bayern Munich, dictate the clubs’ philosophy.
It is to this reason that Arsenal fans should not be too excited by the big money names that have arrived this January. After all, the window without the aforementioned men, would have been a disaster. The money spent was a Gazidis sign off on a Mislintat recommendation, negotiated by Fahmy and overseen by Sanllehi. Arsenal in their new format, had to over ride Wenger and get the deals done out of sheer desperation rather than planning. This is something that looks and will perhaps be a success, but it is one that has been born out of reactive necessity. The long-term plan has to be different and in an ironic way is Arsene Wenger’s.
Arsenal as a business model and as a club cannot and will not compete with Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Manchester City/United in the transfer market. These moves this January are not a sign of that. Why? Because if this is a sign of their new policy then they are going to be outmuscled and what is worse, they are already too far behind. Instead Mislintat is to head up a scouting network that in the future, will track and sign young talent (as Arsene did in his early years). They will develop them and whilst will have to sell them on if the likes of Real and Barcelona come in (who doesn’t) should still be able to resist the temptation of selling to rivals in desperation and the contracts should be more robust and the models will be profitable. They will certainly not be a team like Ajax, Atalanta, Monaco, Porto or even Dortmund but almost an elite hybrid that has a sustainable model and an identity that the fans thought they were getting when the Emirates first bricks were laid.
Arsenal should be proud of how their team has reacted in this transfer window to keep their team competitive after the situation had deteriorated to into decay. Blame should also not be laid at the feet of Arsene Wenger solely as he has been trying to do the work of what in Europe is done by ten men. Instead the Gunners have navigated troubled waters, proved hey are willing to commit to spending but at the same time that are offering a bright future. The coming years maybe more ‘Konstantinos Mavropanos’ than ‘Pierre Aubameyang’, however, they also promise to be more secure and potentially they will have an identity that was once so close but has recently slipped away.
