Don't know if this is true, but a random Roma fan on Reddit said that they had to raise 40m before the window closed, and Salah was the only valuable player clubs wanted to buy.
Monchi rumoured to be appointed Arsenal sporting director
They were under intense UEFA scrutiny at the tie , and probably felt they wouldn’t get the leeway the Gulf-owned clubs are given. I remember they felt they needed to move Salah by mid summer or fall foul of financial FairPlay guidelines. I don’t think the fans question that so much, but are more disappointed with the final compensation received for Salah.
But a team under time pressure with few other mature assets won’t perform as well at the negotiating table. This is the StatDNA era, right, when we were buying Bundesliga players for similar amounts. If only we had run a Serie A dataset.
Arsenal have moved a step closer to appointing Monchi as their new technical director after Roma announced the Spaniard had left the club. The 50-year-old worked with Gunners boss Unai Emery at Sevilla.(Telegraph)
7 days later
Word is sevilla are in the drivers seat now.
Overmars + de ligt please
Oh my.
He pretty much confirmed it on twitter he is returning to Sevilla. Bye
This sucks so much. I was incredibly negative after Mislintat left, and then there were credible rumours that we were getting the only other person I know about that's in the same league, and now he chooses Sevilla.
You'd think Overmars would want to come here, but I don't really know much about him. Ajax have some great talent, been like that for a long time, but many of them seem to be players that come through their youth teams. What we need is someone who can identify talent elsewhere, and that's where Mislintat and Monchi are both great.
We'll end up having Raul absorbing Sven's job, I bet. It seems like that's what he wanted all along.
This is not how I hoped it would go. All credible sources saying it was in the works, why the hell would he choose Sevilla over Arsenal? Makes no sense.
@[deleted] What a frightening thought. Barcelona overpaid for pretty much everyone they bought.
Yawn, we’ll be #just fine.
Coombs wrote:This is not how I hoped it would go. All credible sources saying it was in the works, why the hell would he choose Sevilla over Arsenal? Makes no sense.
It does, though. He's a Spaniard, came through Sevilla's youth system and stayed there his whole playing career. When he retired Sevilla were in the second division and he was immediately appointed director of football. Stayed there for 16 years where they got promoted and won EL three times. He's 50 years old and has basically been at Sevilla his whole life while loving it and the two years he tried something else he didn't enjoy it at all. It makes a lot of sense.
Bah. It's a pretty pathetic decision. So unambitious.
Quincy Abeyie wrote:@[deleted] What a frightening thought. Barcelona overpaid for pretty much everyone they bought.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of his method either.
I think we created too many positions when we hired both him and Sven though, and no one seemed to know exactly where the lines that separated them were drawn, not even themselves. Gut feeling at the time was that Raul maybe would be groomed to take over for Gazidis, but then Venkatesham slotted in and essentially took that job instead.
In retrospect maybe we shouldn't be surprised considering how little organisational structure we've had over the last decade, but it feels like we didn't have a clear plan here and just signed top people at other clubs as they became available. It makes me very uncomfortable how much influence Sanllehi seems to have gained over the club in just a year.
Coombs wrote:Bah. It's a pretty pathetic decision. So unambitious.
Is that what you're saying when a player joins us instead of a better club too?
What?
I think he means that good players join 'lesser' clubs all the time because they're given a better platform there, so the same could be true for a sporting director.
I can see both points, but I think what matters most to Monchi is that he's given free reigns to do his job. He wasn't at Roma, and clubs like PSG or United who have been rumoured to be in for him wouldn't have the same use for his talent spotting. Who knows what we told him about his prospects here? It seems obvious that we've been in touch at least.
Maybe he thought he would be restricted in the same way Sven was by Raul, whilst at Seville he has more choice on signings. Really disappointing if true.
Quincy Abeyie wrote:Coombs wrote:This is not how I hoped it would go. All credible sources saying it was in the works, why the hell would he choose Sevilla over Arsenal? Makes no sense.
It does, though. He's a Spaniard, came through Sevilla's youth system and stayed there his whole playing career. When he retired Sevilla were in the second division and he was immediately appointed director of football. Stayed there for 16 years where they got promoted and won EL three times. He's 50 years old and has basically been at Sevilla his whole life while loving it and the two years he tried something else he didn't enjoy it at all. It makes a lot of sense.
Hes won the EL five times even but other than that good summary. Shame
I feel like the freedom to operate idea is really just conjecture. Its up to him to make the job what he wants. Sevilla just sounds much easier with less pressure in what is essentially your home town. Pretty lame if you ask me.