Raúl Sanllehí

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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby alexafc12 » Wed Jun 24, 2020 7:54 am

Ornstein suggests deals for Cedric and Mari actually 4 year contracts. Also suggests that:

Ornstein: Arsenal likely spend a more than £100m on David Luiz, Mari and Cedric.

Staggering stuff.


Suggested from other sources:

Mari - £15m for this season / sign permanently. £4m agent fees / signing bonus. Reported £70k pw wages over 4 years. Total: £33.5m
Cedric - £5m for this season. £4m agent fees / signing bonus. Reported £100k pw wages over 4 years. Total: £29.8m
Luiz - £24m for this season. £7.25m agent fees / loyalty bonus. Reported £120k pw wages over 1 year. Total: £37.5m

EDIT: Confirmed as signed and sealed. Great work from the Don

https://www.arsenal.com/news/four-playe ... -stay-club
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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby Dejan » Wed Jun 24, 2020 9:11 am

Absolutely pathethic

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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby Angelito » Wed Jun 24, 2020 10:09 am

Zenith wrote:
Angelito wrote:

Seems like a plan for Kia and Raul to rake in the dough.

Just need to get Willian now.

That's that, then. It's been a pleasure, guys.

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I think it's both the things you stated in your original post.

Sanllehi has a working style that he's not going to change. He's not some rookie. He's an experienced professional. When he first joined Arsenal, it was mentioned that he liked to work on a contact-basis. This would be balanced by Mislintat's data-based analysis and practical observation of players.

Gazidis would supervise them both and together, the three would draw up plans on recruitment, academy management, our short and longer term plans, et. al.

Gazidis had also promised Mislintat a promotion to a Technical Director position after Wenger left. None of those plans materialized. Gazidis left and Sanllehi moved into a powerful position. He didn't offer Mislintat the job, which paved the path for his exit.

On paper, the initial plan seemed sound enough. With Gazidis' departure, they had to figure out a new plan. And in that plan, it appears that we would hire following a contact-based approach.

That's very dangerous because it hands power into the hands of agents, or a football consultant, as Kia claims to be. The mismanagement since the implementation of such an approach has been obvious.

Luiz was a make-shift replacement of Koscielny, who would have stayed if Unai didn't run him to the ground. As a short-term signing, we was fine, not perfect. But this extension and the 4-year deal offered to Soares, a 28-year-old semi-decent RB, is inviting another wage-related issue.

Mari is 27. He'd be okay as a back-up until 31. This isn't as big of a problem.

Yet, it begs the question: what is Sanllehi trying to achieve at Arsenal? What we're seeing a systematic dismantling of the old Arsenal and a formation of an Americanized version of a multinational company that protects the owners and maintains status quo at the cost of the customers of the club. In this case, the fans. In this case, the essence of football-related achievements.

We are linked to Willian now who's one of Kia's clients. We might even get Coutinho if Barca decide to pursue Auba over Lautaro. While Coutinho would probably be the best player at Arsenal, should he join, but we would be again adding another 28-year-old on massive wages—north of £200k—in Coutinho.

I don't think Sanllehi is gullible. I do think he doesn't care about Arsenal's future or values. Kia is a smart man. In his interview with Gary Neville, he was eloquent, persuasive, and could pose solid arguments. He was trying to plant his ideas into Neville's mind. While that wouldn't work on someone like Neville, but it would easily work on many players and football professionals.

The Kroekes aren't football people, so it would be much easier for a maverick like Kia and a seasoned veteran like Sanllehi to sell them a dream.

We have made some glaring mistakes over the course of the last decade.

- Allowing Kroenke into the club over Abramovich who years earlier was interested in Arsenal, not Chelsea;
- Not moving Wenger upstairs;
- The power struggle between Gazidis and Wenger that has ultimately resulted in this chaos;
- Not going for Klopp in 2015;
- Gazidis' meddling in transfers that resulted in the signings of Xhaka, Mustafi, Perez, etc.;
- Hiring of Sanllehi over someone like Txiki, who of course wasn't available, but Txiki is a football man. Sanllehi is a business executive.

It almost appears that Wenger single-handedly postponed the downward spiral of Arsenal by more than a decade. I don't think anyone needed to teach Wenger how to run a club. This "victory" for Gazidis and the subsequent changes since have pushed us further behind than we ever were before Wenger arrived.

Like you, I hope I'm wrong. I hope Raul has a plan. The signs are ominous but sometimes you have take a few steps back before taking that leap.

It's telling that Wenger revealed how he was frustrated by the inside-goings at Arsenal, which is why he decided to leave.

Arsenal right now reminds me of a bureaucratic, old-money institution where nepotism, favoritism, and cronyism rule the roost.

It's not good.

P.S.: The destruction of Argentine national team and the trajectory Arsenal are taking is eerily similar. Like Argentina, talent alone won't be able to save you. Amidst this chaos, Messi dragged Argentina to 3x major finals, whilst single-handedly taking Argentina to Russia. All of this when Argentina don't even have a balanced team and are way behind Germany, Brazil, France, Spain, Belgium, etc. One person can't save an institution when the said institution is hell-bent on self-decay.

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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby Arsenal Tone » Wed Jun 24, 2020 6:16 pm

Angelito wrote:It's telling that Wenger revealed how he was frustrated by the inside-goings at Arsenal, which is why he decided to leave.


Not sure it was really his decision tbh
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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby Marsbar100 » Wed Jun 24, 2020 6:17 pm

Didn't Wenger leave a year early? Don't think he would have ever not seen a contract out.
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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby VCC » Wed Jun 24, 2020 6:47 pm

Marsbar100 wrote:Didn't Wenger leave a year early? Don't think he would have ever not seen a contract out.

Sometimes it's not your decision
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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby Highbury Hillbilly » Wed Jun 24, 2020 7:06 pm

Board: Arsene, have you considered voluntary redundancy?

AW: No.

Board; Have you considered involuntary redundancy?

AW: I've gathered you all here today to tell you I'm stepping down at the end of the season.
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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby alexafc12 » Wed Jun 24, 2020 8:06 pm

Former transfer chief Sven Mislintat telling people Arsenal is an ‘absolute mess’


https://metro.co.uk/2020/06/24/sven-mis ... -12898616/
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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby Angelito » Wed Jun 24, 2020 8:08 pm

aniym wrote:Board: Arsene, have you considered voluntary redundancy?

AW: No.

Board; Have you considered involuntary redundancy?

AW: I've gathered you all here today to tell you I'm stepping down at the end of the season.


Who's your source?
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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby Ach » Wed Jun 24, 2020 8:10 pm

alexafc12 wrote:
Former transfer chief Sven Mislintat telling people Arsenal is an ‘absolute mess’


https://metro.co.uk/2020/06/24/sven-mis ... -12898616/

He was just as bad
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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby alexafc12 » Wed Jun 24, 2020 8:15 pm

Ach wrote:
alexafc12 wrote:
Former transfer chief Sven Mislintat telling people Arsenal is an ‘absolute mess’


https://metro.co.uk/2020/06/24/sven-mis ... -12898616/

He was just as bad


Seems he as frozen out as the club preferred to sign players recommended by Raul and his network of agents.

Sven doing alright at Stuggart it seems. Relegation fodder to promotion candidates !
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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby Marsbar100 » Wed Jun 24, 2020 8:17 pm

Big loss
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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby ag6789 » Wed Jun 24, 2020 8:37 pm

Need to get this Raul clown out of AFC ASAP. Stop major damage.
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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby Angelito » Sun Jun 28, 2020 8:43 pm

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Re: Raúl Sanllehí, Head of Football

Postby Angelito » Mon Jun 29, 2020 10:02 am

Kia Joorabchian's growing influence sheds light on Arsenal's identity crisis

The super-agent’s involvement in some eyebrow-raising deals has sparked fears that the once famously resourceful club no longer has a coherent approach to recruitment.

It is not unusual to hear Kia Joorabchian offering his thoughts via TalkSport but, when he began discussing David Luiz’s future 10 days ago, ears pricked up among many who deal regularly with Arsenal. One particular line from the agent served as a flashing light. The Premier League’s contract deadline of 23 June was fast approaching and Joorabchian believed there was plenty of work to do. “There are several issues within the whole structure that will be resolved,” he said, before returning to the theme of his high-profile client.

Joorabchian’s working relationship with the Arsenal hierarchy is no secret, and he was perfectly entitled to provide a commentary. But for some who have harboured reservations about his influence it was, as one puts it, the final straw. However it was intended, the statement felt overly familiar with the club’s internal concerns. The events that followed have shed light on the identity crisis evolving within Arsenal, which has caused dismay among former and existing staff.

The worry is that Arsenal, once famously resourceful, have entrusted too much responsibility for recruitment to a narrow list of associates that includes Joorabchian, a super-agent with a storied past in helping broker big deals and a long-time friend of the technical director, Edu.

There is, of course, nothing to stop them working together, and there are many ways to address squad-building requirements. But eyebrows were raised on Tuesday when the 33-year-old David Luiz, one of the club’s highest earners at a time when Covid-19 and a poor season have forced some difficult financial decisions, was enlisted for a further year.

Perhaps more jarring was the fact Cédric Soares, the 28-year-old who had been prevented by injury from making his debut since joining on loan from Southampton, was tied down on a long-term deal that effectively makes him the deputy right-back.

Both players are represented by Joorabchian and his company, Sports Invest UK.

Transfers of that nature would, while entirely legitimate, have been anathema under Arsène Wenger. He generally shied away from deals with bigger-name agents and had little time for heavy investments in older players. But Joorabchian’s hand has been evident in a clutch of moves involving Arsenal in the past year, the first being a move that was completed on 8 August, a month after Edu, a former player, returned to Arsenal. The Football Association’s list of intermediary transactions, released this week, shows Sports Invest UK represented Arsenal in Alex Iwobi’s £35m move to Everton.

Iwobi’s and Everton’s side of the deal was, according to the list, overseen separately by the agency that represents the player. It is not unusual for different parties to work on the different ends of a transfer, even more so when involving moves from abroad, and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing. Some experienced industry figures simply point out that given Arsenal and Everton are familiar rivals and worked together 18 months previously when Theo Walcott made the same move it appears a convoluted way to have done business.

David Luiz arrived from Chelsea on the same day and Soares followed in January. Willian, another Joorabchian client, has been linked with a summer arrival although the Observer understands that while there is strong interest on Arsenal’s part no final decision has been made on his future.

The fear in certain quarters is that Arsenal’s executive team are wed to a select set of voices and marginalising those with an alternative view, particularly when it comes to transfers and planning. Nobody doubted the club’s approach needed modernising in the post-Wenger era and that is why there was surprise when Sven Mislintat, the head of recruitment, moved on in February 2019.

Since then, the suggestion is that Arsenal have surrendered a coherent approach to player-spotting and handed too much power to the contacts books of Edu and the head of football, Raúl Sanllehi. Some members of staff are believed to feel frozen out and there is particular angst that Arsenal, who also conducted a revamp of their academy staff in November, may be losing ground in any chase for the best young players. One former employee claims the club’s approach no longer fitted their values and the high-performance culture fostered under Wenger has been allowed to ebb away.

There is a view that Arsenal’s hierarchy are awkward customers. It has not gone unnoticed among certain club personnel over the past two seasons that certain agents and contacts do not return calls as frequently. One player representative says he sighs inwardly when an Arsenal number shows up on his phone; another is strongly critical of their communication skills.

It goes without saying that everyone in the picture has their own agenda and that every agent has clients’ interests to look after. That is all part of the game but it becomes more problematic when, as some suggest has occurred, potential deals begin to falter.

For all the structural issues the biggest problem is, another source says, a “lack of relevant brains”. Arsenal are well known, as per the words of their director Josh Kroenke, to be operating a “Champions League wage bill on a Europa League budget”, and given their league position that will not change unless Mikel Arteta is given the squad clearout he desires this summer. That means they ideally require value – and preferably resale value – in the market, operating more like Borussia Dortmund or RB Salzburg than Barcelona or Real Madrid.

“Finally Arsenal have people who really understand football and are footballing people in the back-room staff,” Joorabchian said in a separate TalkSport interview last July, referencing Sanllehi and Edu. “But the question is whether or not the finances will be made available.”

If not, then what? The bigger issue appears to be whether Sanllehi, who helped bring Neymar to Barcelona, and the former Brazil general manager Edu have the expertise to run Arsenal in a lean, streamlined fashion according to those parameters. Another figure familiar with their way of working does not believe so, suggesting Arsenal risk being a “mid-table team within three to four years” if nothing changes.

There remains enough promise to remove such doomsday scenarios. The acquisitions of Gabriel Martinelli and William Saliba a year ago showed that elements are still in place for Arsenal to find players with a genuine chance of becoming high-class performers. Match-winning contributions by Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock at Southampton on Thursday were reminders the academy, can still turn up wonders. To realise all that potential, though, the sense is that Arsenal need to remember exactly how those things became true.

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