Posted by It’s taken nearly a week for me to wrap my head around it: Raul Sanllehi has been sacked as Arsenal Director of Football.
A year ago, almost to the day, most of us were singing his praises. “Don Raul,” Arsenal Twitter called him. One guy bought a jersey. Memes were made.
In perhaps the worst take in the history of this website, I wrote at the time:
Sanllehi’s contacts (specifically with super agent Jorge Mendes) and Pépé’s signature turned the page from the above board (but unrealistic) transfer strategy of Arsene Wenger, to a modern transfer dynamic, complete with the backdoor wheel greasing that’s almost required to get deals over the line today.
Sanllehi’s trusted network of contacts ended up being just Kia Joorabchian. Towards the end of his tenure, with Joorabchian looking on from the Director’s box at times, there were debates—only half-joking—about which of them was actually running the club.
That sentiment was exacerbated when Arsenal started the summer transfer window by offering two Joorabchian clients, Cedric Soares and Willian, contracts that would take them past typical retirement age. Another, Philippe Coutinho, was apparently closer to Arsenal than anywhere else prior to Sanllehi’s sacking.
Results on the field were no better. Arsenal won their opening two matches of the season unconvincingly, then dropped points in three successive games, including to eventually-relegated Watford. After losing to Leicester City on November 9, Arsenal had accumulated only 17 points from their first 12 games, and were eight points behind the Champions League places.
Naturally, Sanllehi waited three weeks from that point to make a manager change. That delay gave credence to reports earlier in the season (since confirmed by Emery himself) that Sanllehi had wanted to extended his contract in the aftermath of Baku.
Sanllehi consolidated his power at the club over the next 12 months. Many dissenters, some with decades of service, left the club. Some voluntarily, some not. In one of the most tone-deaf decisions in the history of the club, Arsenal officially signed Willian to a €30 million contract the same week they announced the first 55 redundancies. With no one left to object, official presentation photos were taken at Joorabchian’s house.
Fans of every club will tell you their’s is different, but at Arsenal it actually might be. Under Arsene Wenger the Gunners won plenty, but did so without selling their souls to the highest bidder. The French manager famously refused to work with Mendes, based on philosophical differences rather than sporting ones.
Firing Sanllehi in the middle of the transfer window is not ideal. But neither was continuing to allow him to desecrate this once-proud club. Arsenal may be starting over, but in giving Mikel Arteta final say over transfers, elevating Edu’s influence, and hiring lifelong Arsenal fan Tim Lewis to make sure the money goes where it’s supposed to, Arsenal finally have a modern footballing structure in place. Here’s to hoping it works this time.