Despite being far from loved by Arsenal fans after his nine years or so at the club, Ivan Gazidis remains an important part of the club’s recent history, as he helped oversee Arsène Wenger’s succession after the long-standing manager stepped down from the role in 2018 by appointing Unai Emery.
Soon after, the executive decided it was time to call it a day in London, with the likes of Vinai Venkatesham and Raul Sanllehi taking new established roles to cover the South African’s job, as he headed over to Milan.
It didn’t take Gazidis long to get involved, as he started his new position just before the 2019 January transfer window, where he immediately got rid of Gonzalo Higuain and focused on younger players such as Krzysztof Piątek and Lucas Paquetá.
That continued this summer, with the likes of Rafael Leão, Theo Hernandez and Ismaël Bennacer all signing and more experienced players like Cristián Zapata and Diego Laxalt being shipped off.
Gennaro Gattuso was also moved on, with Marco Giampaolo taking over as manager.
Big question marks about the club’s management have already started to appear, and former Italy international Antonio Cassano, speaking on the TV show Tiki Taka, pointed the finger directly at the former Arsenal executive.
He said, relayed by Il Milanista: “Arsenal haven’t won anything in the past 15 years: it can’t be an accident. The owners need to understand that they’ve taken over one of the most important teams not only in Italy, but in the world, as Milan are like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and a couple of other teams. Here, winning is important, the fans want trophies.”
That first part isn’t exactly true, as the Premier League side have, in fact, won four FA Cups in the past 15 years.
Perhaps he meant the league, which Arsenal last won in 2004.
Either way, it seems the same problems that plagued the Emirates are appearing at Milan, and Gazidis is the first man to be blamed.
