LONDON: Arsenal FC announced Saturday that head of football Raul Sanllehi has left the club and managing director Vinai Venkatesham will lead the English Premier League side going forward.
In a statement on behalf of club owners Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, Stan and Josh Kroenke said: “Raul has made a big contribution during his time with us and will always be part of the Arsenal family. We thank him for all his hard work and expertise and wish him every future success.
“We have no doubt that Vinai is the right person to take the club forward. He has shown outstanding leadership during the current crisis and is held in high regard internally and externally. We know everyone will rally round him so we can move forward successfully.”
Venkatesham, who has been at Arsenal since 2010, said: “I am thankful to Stan, Josh and the rest of the Arsenal board for their trust in me. I will miss working closely with my colleague and friend Raul, but I am looking forward to this new challenge.
“There is much work to do to return Arsenal to the top of the game where we belong, which is what our fans rightly demand. While this will not happen overnight, I believe we have many of the critical ingredients to do so. There are many positives to build on across the club.
“While football faces uncertainties ahead as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, I am confident Arsenal will emerge strongly and look forward with confidence.”
Sanllehi, who joined the club from Barcelona, said: “I’m proud and pleased with the contribution I’ve made at Arsenal over the past three years, and look forward to enjoying the club’s future success. Arsenal is a true footballing institution.
“I am proud to have been part of its history and I thank Stan and Josh Kroenke for this opportunity. Working with Vinai, we have built a top team for the future. Mikel (Arteta) has made an extremely positive impact since his arrival (as manager) and has formed a strong team with our technical director, Edu (Gaspar).
“The academy is in very safe hands with Per (Mertesacker, manager of the Arsenal Academy), and Huss Fahmy (contract negotiator) is a talented and highly-capable leader of our football operations. Personally, I now look forward to taking some time off and spending time with family and friends before setting to work on a new challenge and cheering Arsenal on to great things.”
However, all the nice words notwithstanding, The Athletic have broken down the real reasons for Sanllehi’s departure which has been ‘brewing for some time’ at the club.
The publication ‘has been told the club see this [Sanllehi’s exit] as a way of streamlining their executive model in the light of COVID-19’ after already announcing 55 redundancies.
There was also thought to be ‘unease at Sanllehi’s political positioning’ with his ‘style of management’ not always going down well with the Arsenal hierarchy.
In terms of recruitment, there was a feeling within the club that the former Barcelona man used his ‘trusted network of intermediaries’ too much with the scouting and analytics department left ‘sidelined’.
And a number of transfers that were overseen by Sanllehi have come under scrutiny with The Athletic claiming that ‘Arsenal exceeded the asking price for Bernd Leno and paid €5 million above the buyout clause for Lucas Torreira’.
There’s also been questions about whether Sanllehi got value for money on a deal for Nicolas Pepe last summer when he had been available for half the £72 million fee only 12 months before.
