Currently the longest-serving manager in the Premier League by quite some way, Arsène Wenger is also a man with far more responsibilities than most in his position.
Unlike many clubs in the Premier League, Arsenal do not have a director of football, with the Frenchman having the final say on most aspects of what goes on at the club, much like his former rival Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United.
However, with many believing this season could be Wenger’s last at the Emirates, the Telegraph have reported on Monday the London club are considering bringing in a director of football once the 67-year-old leaves the club.
The newspaper claim Arsenal have ‘stepped up’ their hunt for a man in the role, and while the club state this has nothing to do with Wenger’s future, it’s hard to believe the two aren’t somewhat linked.
Sevilla’s Monchi, who has done wonders at the Spanish club during his time there, seems like the ideal candidate for the role, especially when you take into consideration the amount of profit his transfer dealings have brought the club during his time there, as exemplified by the tweet below.
A graph of 20 players Monchi made a profit on at Sevilla. Factor in Carlos Bacca & Aleix Vidal sales-a €312m profit! pic.twitter.com/P6Q0DwnMwv
— Colin Millar (@Millar_Colin) May 30, 2016
The director of football came very close to leaving the La Liga side in the summer, and despite winter links of an exit to Roma never coming to fruition, a departure in the near future seems inevitable.
On paper, it’s a match is made in heaven.
With Arsenal extremely proud of their financial health, appointing someone capable of making a profit on most departures would make Stan Kroenke extremely happy.
Furthermore, Monchi’s ability of attracting players well above the club’s reputation (take Samir Nasri’s move to Sevilla in the summer) would certainly please the fans, who are craving consistent title challenges at a club widely seen as underperforming over the past decade.
In a similar vein to Ferguson’s departure from Manchester United, whoever succeeds Wenger at Arsenal will have big boots to fill, and it makes complete sense for Arsenal to hire someone capable of easing the transition, especially on the transfer front.
Thus, letting the new director of football deal with negotiations would help the next manager focus on the task at hand: getting this team filled with talent to compete once against England’s, and Europe’s, best.
Monchi can be, and probably should be, that person.
