The not so Fantastic Four

It feels like some time ago that Arsenal was a functional and stable football club and with the new this week, hopefully Arsenal are on the right track to becoming one again. The four men assembled to assist with the club’s transition into the post-Wenger era have now all left Arsenal following Raul Sanllehi’s departure on Saturday – with Sanllehi joining Ivan Gazidis, Sven Mislintat and Unai Emery who have all left in the past two years. Despite the instability, it seems that Arsenal are now in a relatively good position, personnel wise, to move the club forward. Amongst this personnel are Edu and Mertesacker who have shaped the youth set up to focus more on domestic talent to abide by the upcoming Brexit laws, culminating in the signings of Tim Akinola and George Lewis. As well as changes behind the scenes, the Premier League released the fixture list at 9am on Thursday morning, setting Arsenal’s league fixtures for the upcoming season.

Saturday marked another seismic day for Arsenal Football Club as it was announced that head of football Raul Sanllehi was leaving the club, with managing director Vinai Venkatesham taking the club forward. A categorical reason has not been given for his departure but there has been much speculation surrounding his involvement with Unai Emery, his transfer dealings, Arteta’s public jabs for support from the board and Covid-19 as possible justifications. Raul was said to be the man who pushed Unai Emery for the vacant managerial position following Arsène Wenger’s departure as well as suggesting the club tie Emery down with a contract extension following an end of season collapse and Europa League Final loss at the end of the 2018/19 campaign. Looking back on the events, such information seems ludicrous. It would be harsh to get on his back for the initial appointment of Emery but the thought of extending his contract after a poor debut season, in which the club had every opportunity to qualify for the Champions League, is baffling. When looking at the transfers under Sanllehi, The Athletic reported that Arsenal paid above Bernd Leno’s asking price, paid €5 million over Lucas Torreira’s buyout clause and ESPN has been pushing a story on an internal investigation into the Pépé transfer with Arsenal paying an enormous fee as well as extra money to intermediaries. Following Arteta’s appointment it is clear that he has improved the club and has maximised the squad in a short period of time. Therefore, following the victory against Liverpool and after subsequent wins, he has mentioned the need for the club to improve the squad and that he needs backing. Given the reported issues with transfers prior to Arteta’s arrival, it makes sense that he wants better and even desires a more hands on approach than Emery had. Finally, with the recent announcement of 55 staff being set for release as a result of Covid-19, seeing a high earning member of the club is no real surprise. With the recent appointments of Edu and Arteta, both of whom are seeking more control on the footballing side of operations, it also makes sense for the club to save money where they can by removing Sanllehi’s contract and giving those with closer ties to the squad more power. Ultimately, any combination of these reasons provides grounds for Sanllehi’s departure and whilst all of the above is hopefully not true, it’s hard to look past Raul’s dealings during his time at the club and ultimately his departure is a positive one.

(Image: Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

With Edu’s appointment as Technical Director in July 2019, he was tasked with providing a detailed analysis of how to improve the club set up, both at youth level and at first team level. What we have seen in the last week is the impact on the youth set up as Arsenal have shifted towards signing promising domestic players for the youth squads. At the end of the UK’s Brexit transition period, Premier League clubs will no longer be able to sign under 18 players from Europe – a large reason for Arsenal’s change in approach. As a result, Arsenal have this week signed Tim Akinola and George Lewis, both of which are players that Mertesacker and Edu feel will fit the new profile. Akinola is a quick and strong central midfield player recently released from Huddersfield due to competition in that area. As a result Arsenal have been able to snap him up on a free transfer, a low risk signing with good potential upside. As with Akinola, it is physicality which has drawn Arsenal to sign Lewis – a quick and tricky winger. Lewis’ arrival is slightly different however, having come from playing at Fram Larvik in the lower divisions of Norway before training with both Solihull United and Ipswich Town. With the recent success of Bukayo Saka, Joe Willock, Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson and Emile Swith Rowe, there is a path for academy players to follow at Arsenal and with such success and the upcoming law changes, it makes sense to push for promising domestic talent.

On Thursday morning, the Premier League released the fixtures for the 2020/21 season. Arsenal begin the campaign away at Fulham before welcoming West Ham to The Emirates for the first home game of the season. The fixture list could potentially prove tricky should Arsenal fail to win away at Fulham on opening day with trips to Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Leeds and Tottenham all difficult tests which following. Should Arsenal fail to win that opening game they could have to wait until mid-December before having another good chance to pick up their first away win of the season away at Everton.. During the festive period, Arsenal will play Chelsea at home on Boxing Day, Brighton at The Amex on the 28th and Wolves at Molineux on the 2nd of January. The North London derbies for the coming season will be played on December 5th at Tottenham and March 13th at Arsenal – so sadly there will be no winning the league at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium this year. The business end of the campaign finishes with away trips to Chelsea and Crystal Palace, ending the season at home against Brighton. The crucial game their will hopefully be Chelsea away with both clubs looking to battle for the Champions League places – should Arsenal be in such a position.

With these changes, Arsenal seem to be increasingly heading in the right direction. The departure of Raul Sanllehi seemed to be a necessity with his ‘looking after his friends’ approach holding Arsenal back both on and off the pitch. Crucially, giving transfer responsibilities to Edu and Arteta should help Arteta to create the squad he wants, providing he is given some money to spend. Edu’s influence is being felt across the entirety of the football club as his involvement with the youth set up has helped to transition the club’s approach towards youth signings to help comply with law changes but also to improve the quality of domestic players at Arsenal. With the current crop of home grown players, there is a pathway to follow and hopefully we can see the likes of Akinola and Lewis take this path. The excitement of the new season is beginning to step up with the release of the new fixtures and Arsenal will be looking for a strong start away at Fulham then at home against West Ham.

Adam Perry - 21/08/2020