Three months ago, with the autumn sunshine beaming into the boardroom Arsenal built to overlook the pitches of their Hertfordshire training base, ambition seemed to course from the new leadership team promoted to run the club in place of the outgoing Ivan Gazidis.
Radical change was going on all over the place and the noises were all positive. In outlining their intention for Arsenal to win the weightiest prizes out there, it was easy to talk the talk but, realistically, how would they walk the walk? Raúl Sanllehí, director of football, warmed to the theme. “We need to be very, very efficient in the design of the first team. We need to be very efficient in the way we play and the way we generate the income to put more fuel into the machine,” he stressed.
The design of the team, based on that search for greater efficiency, was supposed to owe a lot to the very specific expertise of Sven Mislintat. The German talent-gatherer brought with him first-hand experience not only of looking for what he calls “future players” – the untapped potential, the unpolished gems – but also in knowing every detail from within about how a club such as Borussia Dortmund, operating outside the financial super-elite, could box clever enough to compete at the highest level without a massive outlay. They more or less wrote the modern manual, rocketing from the prospect of bankruptcy to the Champions League final in 2013 through a smart and inspired model, and Mislintat was a key part of that.
His upcoming departure begs the question: are Arsenal still aiming to emulate that kind of methodology? After all, they had in place a man who had inside knowledge of that approach and losing him feels like a missed opportunity, especially for a club such as Arsenal who are trying to establish a long-term new direction alongside short-term problem-solving in the post-Arsène Wenger era.
The spotlight now turns to Sanllehí and his preferred candidate to take on the technical direction. Will he go for someone in the mould of Mislintat or Monchi, men famed for their ability to detect outstanding talent whose value has every chance of exploding? Or will he prefer a more contacts-based person in the old-fashioned mould? Or someone who is more of an overseer? If so, then someone else to bring high quality to the scouting department may well be required as well as a technical director. For example Edu, a member of Arsenal’s Invincibles in 2004, the last time the club won the Premier League, is admired for his work with Brazil’s national team but would not come armed with the type of scouting network and procedures developed over the years by Mislintat.
Sanllehí’s experience of how the technical direction worked at Barcelona is perhaps not a particularly useful model for Arsenal currently. At the Camp Nou the political machinations tend to overcomplicate things. At one point not so long ago there was a whole cabal choosing transfers. Group decisions do not always lead to much clarity, or that smart, streamlined efficiency Arsenal claim to be after.
Sanllehí is the last man standing of the triumvirate who oversaw the transition from the last days of Arsène Wenger to the first steps of Unai Emery. Gazidis, Mislintat and Sanllehí led the selection process, all bringing their own specialism to the party. And pretty soon only one of them will remain.
This all comes at an uneasy time for the club. The sunnier climes of grand plans, unbeaten runs and a positive vibe that encouraged the fans to reconnect enthusiastically have passed. There is a change in the weather. The forecast feels overcast and cool. Shabby results, injuries, the curious case of Mesut Özil’s expensive spell on the periphery and a lack of discernible gameplan on the pitch seem mirrored by a much cloudier sense of direction off it because of Mislintat’s departure coming just as Emery confessed that Arsenal have no option but to scratch around for loans in this transfer window. There is a fine line between the encouragement of a few months ago and a return to the apathy that was epitomised by reams of empty seats at the Emirates last season. Arsenal are high-wiring across that line for now.
The next few weeks appear pivotal. Arsenal have to put aside their concerns and find some form quickly. The next three weekends bring Chelsea in the Premier League, a rejuvenated Manchester United in the FA Cup and a trip to Manchester City. This is a test of Emery’s mettle, even if this season is increasingly likely to be defined by how Arsenal fare in the Europa League – a favoured competition for the new manager and arguably their best route back into the Champions League.
Meanwhile, until the final day of this short-lived adventure is concluded, Mislintat will continue his work at Arsenal with the high level of focus he routinely demands of himself. He has been working on a couple of potential transfers during this awkward period of limbo – aware that his job is to help a club he has grown fond of even if the end is just around the corner.