There is more to this than meets the eye.
The fact that he is reporting about this merely confirms rumours that have been doing the rounds for about a week now.
But Orstein should stick to making transfer announcements for the club, it is his ownership and I love it. His attempts to do the PR job for the club have been embarrassing. Just read this crap:
Although there has not been a major breakdown in relations with Mislintat, Arsenal's lack of money to spend in the January transfer window has also caused issues.
How can he claim there has not been a major breakdown, when it is clear Sven is being pushed out.
They are only able to bring in players on loan and those primarily responsible - Sanllehi, Mislintat and Emery - have not been collaborating as effectively as they did previously.
Even more BS from Ornstein. Sanllehi, Sven Mislintat and Emery have not collaborated on any transfers. All the players were secured before Emery was placed in post. The piece is full of too many holes, it is embarrassing.
I have talked about a figurehead, a leader, someone to bring all together pulling in the same direction for the sake of the club. Arev there are gaps created from recent recruitment and changes which has led to power grabs in a rush to fill the vacuum created by the departures of Wenger and Gazidis? Maybe, but I believe something has prompted a shift from the structure that was put in place by the old regime.
What's wrong at Arsenal? Look at PR as one example. Recent examples are worrying, the PR on how the Ramsey contract was managed, this PR disaster was made manifest when Ornstein reported last week that Arsenal did not offer a contract to Ramsey, instead there was an agreement. This, months after Ramsey's side made it clear the club withdrew a contract offer. Also, the way the club handled the departure of Gazidis and the restructuring that followed with a letter signed by Josh Kroenke who no one knows till tomorrow what his role Oscar Arsenal. I can go on and on.
But now we have this Sven story, which it must be pointed out was leaked in a clandestine manner by the club. Don't you just love how they have waited till midway into the January transfer window to release these internal problems in such an an insidious way that prompts debate about the selling of the chief scout. I mean, why even put selling him to Bayern Munich? I tell you why. They are trying to make out that they are busy dealing with this issue. So, getting some money for a chief scout is like we are doing some transfer business?
When things get to this stage in football, it can only mean one thing. We can conclude Sven is gone. It is rare in football that things like this do not mean the departure of at least one protagonist.
Now let's not be cynical and try to look more into the issue in a fair, cold, dispassionate manner. This system worked effectively as the system created to benefit the club as the way forward from Wenger. At least it did till Gazidis left. But it is looks like things have changed and the new system is being re-calibrated to suit a new directive. I will explain on the basis of my knowledge on analytics, scouting, internal workings of football clubs etc etc, plus rumours and facts.
We are told that, "Sanllehi's approach towards recruitment centres on his vast network of contacts, whereas Mislintat tends to favour a more analytics-based approach". This seems to be at the heart of the issues surrounding Sven and Raul. I say this is ridiculous, mendacious and BS.
I am sorry, but only an ignorant person will take this BS. Indeed it is criminal spin. Having a network of contacts and a more analytics-based approach are not, and have never been mutually exclusive. Indeed, football clubs, including Arsenal have learnt the hard way about the limitations of using analytics alone for scouting. All football clubs, including Arsenal now combine the use of contacts all over the world with analytics-based data. From what I have read about Sven, he has his contacts to go with his analytics. All you have to do is Google or go buy a book written about him and read it.
I hate BS like this because we football supporters are not stupid. The rumour I gave heard is Sven is going because he uses his own analytics, he has no faith in StatDNA and protects his analytics fiercely. He will not share or pass on trade secrets and this has not gone down well with the new team. But Sven worked very with Wenger, a search will confirm I posted how their working relationship was said to be so good, it was like being back to the Wenger and Dein relationship. To me this is not about a differences based on types of scouting approaches. It is about much more from the top.
I see this as another cut costing measure by Stan Kroenke, and the cheap alternative is the failed StatDNA with Raul's contacts. So we lose the Sven to Bayern, if the newspapers are to be believed, it of course gives an opportunity to Emery and Raul. They better not fail.
On Edu, I follow Brazilian football a lot and of course Edu has interested me. I also heard some rumour a while back about him having discussions about joining Arsenal in some capacity which was unknown. So Edu joining Arsenal rumours are not new.
But since the first Edu to Arsenal rumours, he has carved a niche for himself, he is very successful and has a plum role, with lots of responsibilities and importance working alongside his mentor. IMHO, the only way Edu joins Arsenal now, is to replace Raul Sanhelli and that is not a possibility.
The only possibility I see is maybe Edu works with Raul as some sort of Arsenal representative in Brazil. Maybe this fits in with Raul's plans of effectively setting up a scouting system that is similar to the system Wenger used for years until StatDNA became the sole scouting tool for a few years. Remember Stan Kroenke even charged the club a fee for its use.
There is a scout and contact in Spain, he played in our youth team and won the FA youth cup in 1988. His name is Francis Cagiago, man often credited with bringing Cesc, Lauren and Bellerin. Also, recommended a few we failed to sign like Pique. As far As I know, he still works for Arsenal, so why not use a highly respected guy like him.
After all is said and done. There has been one major change at Arsenal since Wenger left and I have noticed a pattern since Stan Kroenke takes over.
- Gazidis leaves (BTW! He was not my cup of tea. I did not rate him cos he rode on Wenger's coat tails to make a career in football in Europe)
- Ramsey has his contract offer withdrawn
- Emails are sent to all departments stating cost cutting measures
- Our highest paid player is being mysteriously frozen out
- Coach informs all, we have no money for permanent transfers
- Now we are insidiously informed of Mislintat imminent departure.
Something stinks at Arsenal football club.