Arsenal have confirmed Sven Mislintat will leave the club on 8 February after 14 months as the club’s head of recruitment.
By the time he leaves, the German will have been at the heart of our player acquisition policy across three windows.
In that time, we’ve snapped up three players, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Sokratis, with connections to his former club Borussia Dortmund, goalkeeper Bernd Leno and the lesser-known Dinos Mavropanos, Matteo Guendouzi and Lucas Torreira.
All in all, not too shabby. It remains to be seen whether he gets any other deals over the line in the next couple of weeks.
A statement from the club, attributed to nobody in particular, reads: “Sven has been with us since December 1, 2017 and has done a truly outstanding job in helping us recruit players who are making a big impact now and will do so even more in the future.
“We wish him every success for the future and thank him for his extremely hard work on behalf of Arsenal.”
Sven also had a few words to say. “It’s been an amazing experience to work at a great club like Arsenal in what has been a big time of change.
“I am excited about what the future holds for the club and am looking forward to new challenges for myself.”
The 46-year-old has been tipped to join Bayern Munich.
Thankyou for torriera and guendouzi…
Well we always knew this 3 man at the helm was not going to work anyways..to many ego’s..
Torreira and Guendouzi might be and should be attributed to Emery in my opinion.
Nothing to do with Emery
Err, do you think deals happen in a few weeks? Both deals were in the works months before Emery was even hired as our coach. There’s even an article on Sven and what he thought of Guendouzi as he was watching him then previous season.
Emery knew Torreira in La Liga and PSG was considering Douzi as a possible young recruitment while Emery was there. Douzi spoke about PSG interest in a recent TV appearance in France. In fact, Arsenal wanted another young player from PSG by the name of Adil who decided to remain there and they decided to go for Douzi. It smells Emery from everywhere.
Torreira has never been in LaLiga… You give too much credit to the coach… Sven has been aware of Guendouzi even before Emery was in. Guendouzi came to Arsenal because of the club and because they give chances to young players.
Do you just like making up lies?
Torreira has never been in La Liga and why would PSG consider Guendouzi as a young recruitment? You’re clearly unaware that he WAS a PSG academy prospect that left them.
Get outta of here with your lies. Sven has already interviewed as to the traits he say in Guendouzi when scouting him last season and Emery is on record as saying, as a head coach, he does not get involved in scouting.
The question we need to ask is why is he leaving? Was it actually a clash of egos? Did he feel we lacked the ambition and wouldn’t spend any money? Was Sanlehi vetoing his transfer targets in favor of players he had connections to (through agents, club directors etc)? None of us expected us to be splashing cash after Wenger left, and I personally had my hopes on Sven unearthing some gems and our reliance on top scouting to sign quality players. Very disappointed that it didn’t work out with Sven and I’m hoping we find a suitable replacement. He… Read more »
Let’s be frank, there is no suitable replacement. None of the aforementioned other have the same number of WC players Sven has scouted. As I said on twitter, this is Gazidis doing; he spent 18 months building a structure for when Wenger leaves, but not one for himself. Under Gazidis, Sven was arguably senior to Raul; he was recruited first, Gazidis made key changes and wooed Sven to Arsenal, so clearly had him in mind for a long time, and Raul would’ve been securing the deals SVEN found. This is also the first (of many?) major misstep by KSE. In… Read more »
spot on. I’ll add that Sanlehi is not compatible with the direction we were supposed to take, specifically in recruitment. He was brought to make use of his so called extensive relations in the game. But indeed Sven was the main man for Ivan. He’s the one who led the recruitment process of the coach, he interviewed him about his philosophy and ideas for the club, based on his understanding of the game and the club. He was on point for the recruitment policy as well. All in all, I’d say the dynamic was supposed to stay the same way… Read more »
I’m not sure that Gazidis was very effective in terms of player contracts – Chambo, Ramsey…(need I go on?). But from an organizational and recruiting perspective yes, this is a massive cock up and a step backwards for the club. It feels like dominoes now.
Özil? Lets be real, Gazidis and Wenger have left the club in a huge mess financially, which is ironic when you think about how well Wenger did to help build the club financially. The crazy contracts handed out to average players, and the mad contracts to bigger players like Özil, Mkhi, Kola, Cech – £850k per week just on those 4. That can easily get you 6 top players. It will take at least two or three years to clear the messy contracts by moving players on and reinvesting smartly. Then there is the massive revenue lost on allowing players… Read more »
why is overmars underwhelming? ajax’s record in the transfer market since overmars has been at the helm has been outstanding. sad to see mislintat go but i think his status is massively inflated. dortmund are continuing to do very good business since he left…
“Dortmund are continuing to do very good business since he left….” How exactly do you think systems work? Do you think Sven left and just gutted out the entire scouting system and analytics process he had developed for them over a decade? You think that’s how it works? Also noticed how you seem to claim Sven is overhyped and disassociate him from the Dortmund recruitment system he created, whilst calling Overmars work “outstanding” when benefitting from an Ajax academy in existence long before his arrival. Also what are his “outstanding” buys for Ajax? Overmars; – Davidson Sanchez (genuine great buy)… Read more »
Wow, what a list–we are losing someone genuinely perfect for our club in this transitional phase, and someone who would allow us to compete with the clubs who have more in the pocket to spend than we do. Frustrating to say the least.
From what I understand, Overmars wouldn’t be replacing him, he would be his boss, if Sven had stayed. Overmars would take the new technical director job, which Sven also wanted.
I’m quite frankly pissed off about this. Forget the next sleeve sponsors and filling the corporate boxes, those suits come and go. This guy was the future, a return to the Arsenal way of making stars. High-quality youth scouting and development to get the edge over our state-funded, petro-dollar ‘peers’. There is absolutely no excuse for him to be pushed out like this, as it seems. These famously humane Arsenal values left with Arsene Wenger after all. Sanhelli the heat is very much on you now buddy. I am watching your every move.
Or Bayern made him an incredible offer and a chance to return to his home country? Maybe for family reasons he didn’t adjust to London living?
We also knew he might be trouble with the way he left Dortmund after falling out with Tuchel.
So I don’t see his departure as being a sign of our “humane values that left with Arsene Wenger”. Wenger stuck it out for two decades. Sven didn’t last two seasons.
Until we know the precise cause of his departure, people should resist the temptation to throw mud at the club.
He left because he suggested players and was told no money available. Can’t blame him. This is how it it is under the Kroenke regime.
Source?
No, that’s speculation, and it might as well be PR put out by Sven’s side. The club are right to stay silent, they’ve done the classy thing and wished him well. This guy has left two clubs in less than two years and he’s already got a move to Bayern lined up. Arsenal shouldn’t even comment further, just replace him and move on. People really need to get out of this toxic spiral of believing everything you read with no actual evidence apart from unsubstantiated rumours and anonymous sources. Guys like Sanllehi are doing their best to work under an… Read more »
It’s not the first time you’ve tried to defend the regime on here, kaius. Or should I say, Raul.
Nice try.
I have been rumbled
Arsenal and ‘classy’ do not currently belong in the same paragraph.
What is your source for this? From what I’ve been reading, he was overlooked for a promotion. Why would he be frustrated about a low budget? The financial and recruitment policy of the club would have been well known. His speciality is to find the rough diamonds at low prices who could be coached to become better. It just doesn’t make sense to me that he would leave because of financial constraints.
Sources such as Ornstein told us he would leave and revealed the nature as to why, even when the Arsenal PR denied it. The fact that it is now confirmed as he’s leaving, it means we can take everything else The Ornacle said as gospel; that he was promised a Technical Director role that not only not materialize, but has been offered to another person (who has since declined it). His selection choices have been overlooked for the likes of Sanchez and Banega, two players we know for certain are not Sven-like players. As for not adjusting to London living?… Read more »
Mate, as far all things Arsenal go, I usually agree with you. Not this time. Milsintat leaving two big clubs in less than two years is a big red flag. Even if POrnstein is right and Sven had disagreements with the club or felt he wasn’t given the power he deserved, leaving is an extreme step. If he really wanted to be Arsenal’s Technical Director, he would stay and fight for that position, and for the club. But no, he’s going to Bayern. Frankly there are other scouts out there doing incredible work unearthing gems at clubs like Lille, Sampdoria… Read more »
Pornstein is the mouthpiece of the club
I love what Mislintat was doing for the club but people give him too much credit. People even say he unearthed Dembele. Dembele had played for Rennes where his talent was obvious to the world. Guys, stop talking like Columbus discovered America where people were already living.
Yeah the Dembele thing is another great example. Great Columbus analogy
Just to throw this in there, but America was discovered by the Moors
you want him to stay on and get blamed and ridiculed for everything wrong about the club’s tranfer policies? destroying his reputation as it goes on? I’m sorry friend, not everyone can be Wenger
Why is that a myth? He spotted him FOR US. By your logic, no one really spots anyone, as we must go find the scout that saw Messi in a park and make him our chief scout. And why should he fight for a role allegedly promised to him, for a Europa League club currently in transition and apparently no money for him? How would he fight for role when the role would be given to someone else? And also, why should he “fight” for a Technical Director role when being courted by a much bigger club back in his… Read more »
Got to say, from what I have seen of him Tuchel does come off as an arrogant prick
Three notes: 1. Heat should always be on Stan 2. Mislintat was possibly the only good decision Gazidis made at Arsenal 3. Mislintat departure should also be seen as increase of Emery influence and good relations with Sanlehi.
Stan doesn’t GAF
Agreed.
The heat should always be on Stan. People who know his American sports teams keep telling us about well-liked management staff who suddenly leave their positions so we shouldn’t be shocked it’s happening to us now.
I’m not a Stan fan but his Rams team just made the SuperBowl last night with an incredibly well liked young coach to the point where a bunch of his ex-assistants are getting head coaching jobs based on their links to him.
The major difference is American sports have salary caps while football really doesn’t. You don’t have to pour money into sports teams in America to succeed as the salary cap levels the playing field. The successful football teams across Europe pretty much are all massive money losers outside of Juventus.
The Rams thing feels miraculous and is the severe outlier in Stan’s ownership history.
It’s a massive outlier, and Kroenke does not deserve a Superbowl victory.
Brady’s Patriots might be dodgy cheats but I sincerely hope they trash the Rams.
@kauis Kroenke was an owner when the Rams won their last Super Bowl (he owned 30%). I’m not a big Kroenke guy but you can’t argue that he’s a terrible owner who doesn’t care about winning and then dismiss him firing a long-term respected coach (Fischer with the Rams) and bringing in a bright young innovative coach who has helped him do exactly that. The biggest difference between American sports and football is that American sports are set up in a way to level the playing field (draft, salary cap etc.) while football is run in such a way to… Read more »
So he’s already won a Superbowl? Dammit
Good points Atom. It’s nice to hear people defend Kroenke to be honest. Don’t know enough about the NFL but it seems like the rules there create a level playing field which suits an owner like him much more than the Premier League and it’s unique financial challenges.
Personally I think his ownership style leaves an unhealthy leadership void at our club, and the way he handled buying the remaining shares from individual Gooners was not handled well at all.
He’s still got a lot to prove here.
He was a *minority* owner of the Rams during the Greatest Show on Turf Era; it’s arguable that once that era ended, he let the team decline to justify their move to L.A., where they will inhabit a brand new Kroenke-owned and -developed facility. He wants teams that have their own stadia–I honestly think the real estate is equal to or more important to him than the team that fills the building (Arsenal in its own building, Rams in Kroenke building, Nuggets and Avalanche in a Kroenke-building).
He runs his teams as a business investment and not as a personal plaything like many other football owners do (Chelsea, PSG, etc.). Owning the real estate is definitely valuable as opposed to simply owning the team and paying the rent. I really don’t have an issue with him in terms of being an absentee owner – do we really want an owner constantly meddling on the footballing side of things? He gave Wenger & Gazidas plenty of time to turn things around and unfortunately they left the club in a real mess in terms of an unbalanced squad with… Read more »
I prefer an owner who loves the game and demands performance from players and coach.
Arsenal have the sixth largest wage bill but we have wasted a hell of a lot of money, paying CL prices to Europa League level players
What a shit sport. Jesus Christ don’t get me started. 1 minute plays ruled by advertising breaks, 1 guy who can throw, 1 who can run and 9 jacked up thugs with no technical ability. How this ‘sport’ became so popular I’ll never know. Go and support spurs in their new superdome if that’s what you want.
What about the Nuggets this year?! Doing pretty well in the NBA. Had been crap up until now but maybe his collective franchises are finding their footing. BTW not a KSE fan at all as I’ve only been an Arsenal supporter for a decade and had to live through the decline. If there is a chance Monchi will come and reunite with Emery then we may be ok. Feels like a power move from Sanllehi.
If that good relations are to get Banega and Sanchez, then I ain’t buying. I want more Torreira’s and Guendouzis , not a busted flush and a Barca reject.
Banega is a very good player if you ever watched La Liga, one of the best there.
He’s an outstanding technical player, and we should have gone for him when Alexis left instead of going for Mkhi.
Who’s Sanchez? I think you mean Suarez?
I really hope they have a plan. This doesn’t make much sense at this point in time.
Who scouts for scouts??
Hahaha, nice question though. Only if it were upto us.
The scout scouts presumably
The scouts scout scouts scouts i think. But i might be wrong.
I think technically you are correct
He’s been here 14 months. What an absolute joke.
my plan would be let Sven pick 3 young players to sign before he’s off! Give him a bonus years later if they work out as well as his other young signings.
Or he could just keep the names to himself to impress his new employers… better yet, why not tell them about some prospects in our own academy?
This was extremely poor governance. He’s seen behind the curtain, now he’ll work for the next show in town. Hope we don’t come to regret this…
Plan is to make money for Stan.
Blogs! Do you have any inside information on what the hell is going on at our club and just who is calling the shots?
Phone the Ornacle at once!
Terrible. We never get a break with club. Nothing goes as planned.
if the news are to be believed then Sanlehi done the club some harm!
Sven is more import to the club’s future than any director of football relations/operations nonesense.
The whole plan was built on making smart and effective transfers. Something we saw hint of in Torreira and Geundouzi signings.
This is a serious setback.
You’re assuming that everything is down to Sven. Sven Mislintat is not God and the club will continue to do just fine…
was really looking forward to having him for the years to come and bring back the glory days of unearthing gem. that’s the Arsenal Way. now nothing can make up for this, except if Overmars comes, oh, and bring Dennis along.
while I recognize the desire to see club legends return, just objectively Sven has a much better track record than Overmars does. It might appeal to the fans to bring Overmars and Dennis back, but from a purely sporting sense it would be a downgrade
I would like them as coaches maybe, but unless their track record supports it, I don’t want us appointing anyone for sentiment. Berkamp SHOULD be a coach at Arsenal. His experience would be invaluable to youngsters at our club. But nothing more unless he merits it. What has Overmars done at Ajax to merit such a position at Arsenal? They no longer dominate their league, don’t really have any top players, and Dutch football in general isn’t as prestigious as it was from the Cruyff days till early 2000’s. Frank De Beuor dominated at Ajax, then flopped at Inter and… Read more »
Overmar’s tenure at Ajax isn’t going down to well at Ajax amongst the fans apparently. Unknowns aren’t working out and the successful buys have been obvious and expensive. I’d take bergkamp as a coach though
Really poor handling by the club not to make things work better behind the scenes. It’s becoming a disturbing trend, both on and off the pitch, to allow, and perhaps to force, such prized assets to leave the club so unceremoniously.
Anybody would think we were trying to fuck up on purpose
I don’t know what anyone would expect after 20+ years of a set regi8me. It’s going to take a while to get the balance right. It’s a real shame though. Gazidis leaving so quickly after Wenger hasn’t helped things and was sure to leave a power vacuum.
It appears like the stories of disagreements with Raul are real then. What I really find depressing about this is Arsenal are going to be run as a self-sustaining model. Our only real hope of success is to follow the Sp*rs model of the past few 5 years of finding young cheap talent before others do and molding them into a terrific unit with a couple of borderline world-class players. We don’t have the resources to outspend City (who have shown they will just cook the books to get around FFP), Chelsea & Liverpool (owners spend huge chunks of money)… Read more »
What spurs model? We were doing that way before that shit team became half decent, they modelled themselves on us.
If you are referencing Wenger knowing about the French generation before everyone else did – then I whole- heartedly agree. If you’re referencing the period post the Invincibles when we went with project youth – I would point out that in a lot of ways they have been much more successful at it given how much more difficult the league has become since that period thanks to the influx of massive TV money. Our only really top class player to come out of project youth was Cesc vs. they’ve had Kane, Erickson, Lloris, Bale/Modric (arguably they’re prior to this), Alli… Read more »
Fabregas, Diaby, Song, Van Persie, Nasri, Adebayor, Flamini, Rosicky, Clichy, Walcott, Sagna, Wilshere, Ramsey and many others.
Why they are more successfull? Even though the league may be tougher they still don’t have to sell their players, because of the way more money from TV coverages and sponsor deals, like we had to.
None of the players you’ve listed outside of Fabregas & possibly Ramsey are as good as the players I’ve listed from Sp*rs. The TV revenue has been a bit of a double edged sword. Even during the lean years we had one of the top 3/4 highest wage bills in the PL, even during years where we didn’t spend a lot on transfers. That largely was down to Wenger’s socialistic system of making sure that everyone was relatively well paid vs. other clubs paying superstars a lot more. We simply didn’t spend a lot on transfers those years. During that… Read more »
You can’t really count Erickson and Lloris. If you weren’t living under a rock then you knew about both of them. Not sure why we didn’t sign Erickson before them anyway.
Erickson joined them for roughly 10 m gbp. You might have heard of him but it wasn’t a big money transfer
Shit, this is worrying. Something’s going on behind closed doors. Has to be. As indifferent as I was about Gazidis, his departure was very oddly timed. Now this, only a week after we’re told ‘only loan players’ in January (which however you look at it is an unusual thing for us to make so public, it’s usually a lot more vague than that). It’s all really, really strange. And not in a good way. I worry it could be down to something like Kroenke saying there’s no money and them two have thought ‘fuck that, what’s the point’ and jumped… Read more »
It’s a fucking big bad joke.
Torreira+Guendouzi+Sokratis for £50,000,000 is excellent business.
Aubameyang has been a hit, even though it didn’t necessarily add balance to our forward line.
Raul has got a decent level of football experience, but I really hope he doesn’t fancy himself as a football scout.
The club really want to hope Sven doesn’t rock up somewhere else inside the PL, the last thing they need is to give our fan base another stick to beat them with.
#SanlehiOut
Like the cat that got the cream
Why is there always something negative happening with us and why do they happen at the most inopportune time? There must be a real curse on us, or the people at the top do not have the slightest idea of how to run a football club or a combination of the two :/
Is he playing Championship Manager in that pic?
if thats the case , i’m getting my c.v. sent over to Raul ASAP!
Don’t bother, you’ll be out the door in 12 months
12 months of living the dream..
To all the people losing their shit, maybe this is just Sven moving on to a bigger club in his home country. Moving to Bayern is moving to an elite club, which we are not currently at Arsenal. Just a thought. Who knows what’s actually happening.
Exactly, and we know how sneaky Bayern are when it comes to poaching talent from other clubs.
All I can say is Arsenal best have a f*cling good plan to replace him
No need to. The forums are full of talent scouting experts.
i cant help think that this is a big step backwards. i hope his replacement is up to a massive challenge , because it seems that the day to day running of the club is in a bit of a mess right now.
Yes we will wait for the replacement like we wait for the signing till the last day.
Its gonna be at least 20 years until Arsenal can win the premier league again.
You’re probably right.
#Monchi_in
For fuck sake. Man i am already starting to hate Raul, he now has a big task in his hands. I never wanted him to be the one identifying players, Gazidis and failed with Xhaka, Mustafi. Also talk of Overmars becoming technical director i don’t have much confidence on that as well, he is yet to prove himself and didn’t cover himself with glory when he couldn’t convince De Jong and De ligt to sign for Barcelona ( i am glad they didn’t).
Ajax fans don’t rate him and don’t think he’s even done a good job.
I have a bad feeling about this.
Anyway. Thank you, Sven!..
When FC Bayern calls and you´re German…
When the club you work for say we are not going to spend money on the players you want to bring in.
Bayern are a horrible bunch of chisellers. Like Barcelona but without the class. And Barcelona have no class.
Mes que un cunts
This doesn’t sit with me right.
Hard to know from the outside the real reason(s) for his departure – personality clashes/internal power struggles, lack of ambition/access to finances, etc. – but there’s no way to spin this as a positive event for the club.
I truly hope this isn’t the first phase of a consolidation of power into a single office.
Whatever. Let’s move on
WTF is going on??? The remaining guys at the helm should better deliver as it is a fantastic man moving on. Thanks Sven
This is insane. As many fellow gunners, I really hoped he could find some unheard of gems for us, given that our “saviour” Stan doesn’t give 2 spuds about us, someone like him was needed, someone who could find players for us at low cost but who could very well turn into great singings. This was, IMO, really important for us. Well….I’m pissed off, mais c’est la vie
Very disappointing and we have let the talent go, whilst keeping the administrators.
I would love to hear what Wenger has to say about all these. He probably had turned down a whole lot of interview requests already.
We mustn’t forget that all staff have human stories as well – marriage issues, children issues, drinking violations, culture adaptation issues, etc.
Unless otherwise informed, we shouldn’t be too quick to jump to conclusions about the reason for his departure, regardless of some of the presumptuous headlines on NewsNow.
Do you suggest that Raul has drinking issues? That would definitely explain the otherwise plain stupid decision making recently..
Apparently that’s your explanation – maybe you should write a headline for TalkSport and publish it to NewsNow?
Thanks for your contribution to the Arsenal, Sven, and best wishes for the future.
It is simply not the Arsenal way to lose someone of his calibre after such a short period of employment, and is negligence of a high order.
Raul said earlier this season that Arsenal would no longer allow players to run down their contracts and leave on a free, and Sven’s departure feels as if we’ve done just that, but
with an executive rather than a player. Not clever at all.
Well that really sucks.
Thanks, Sven. Whether it’s the politics in the club or Stan the owner, Arsenal seems to be a shitshow right now.
None of us really know the reasons for this departure. He IS German, They ARE Bayern Munich and it could be as simple as his dream job. Why does it always have to be some kind of conspiracy? These are humans with aspirations, hopes and dreams and to work for Bayern just may be his. I believe all the signings made since Emery was appointed were Emery’s idea. Sven may have made them happen and I am not trying to diminish his skills but these players are in areas Emery believed we had a weakness. Guendouzi came from PSG so… Read more »
Guendouzi came from PSG? Ahhh…okay then….
Here’s wishing you all the best, Mislintat.
Can’t we officially put him on gardening leave or something? I know it won’t do much, but still.
Well Bayern isn’t a bad club to join and maybe he’s homesick?
This is bad news!
If he does join Bayern, doesn’t that say something? They are a bigger and more successful club than us by far, and if they hold him in such high esteem why would we let him go, considering our “live within our means” financial strategy?
It is absolutely ridiculous. Raul better know what he is doing because otherwise it’s not going to take long for the pitchforks to be pointed towards him. One or two Barca transfer flops is all it’s going to take.
Not hard to see this exit being blamed on Wenger if he was still the manager. “Authoritarian bla bla bla”. New management, same old problems. The constant? We all know. Wenger had his own problems but most of what we blamed him for seems to me now, something that wasn’t his making at all.
So sad to lose Sven
Guys, guys, you’re reading WAY too much into this. There’s no politics here. Just look at the photo – Sven’s clearly got TWO screens on the go, AND another laptop in the background. This is completely against the cost-cutting policy, and quite frankly, if he can’t do his job with a PS3 and a copy of Championship Manager 2017 then we don’t need him.
The meltdown on Twitter over him leaving. Some even saying they will stop supporting Arsenal. He’s just a fkin scout.
Good. There has been a profound disconnect between the buying team and the manager. And I mean since Wenger. There has been little effort to understand the needs of the gaffer and squad tactically. Nor have strategic considerations been put into focus. Instead Mslintat has been buying with somewhat of an agenda toward older Dortmund players. Whilst we do need and can benefit from a measure of experience (Sokratis), these players have hampered the wage bill further. Nor did we execute last January right. We refused to sell to City leaving us prey to the only bidder left in market… Read more »
Apparently Sanllehi is behind this unwanted departure and coupled with Arsenal’s activity in the transfer market as of now, not much to wonder actually.
Mans spending months targeting a player only to see Emery going after Barca reject Denis Suarez. Frustration understandable very much.
Good Luck, Sven.
A pity not to have had you at the club longer.