Arsenal announced this Saturday the departure of its football director, Raul Sanllehí, who is replaced by the executive director, Vinai Venkatesham, while the “gunner” club has launched an investigation into its transfer policy, according to English media. Sanllehí held this same position at Barcelona.
“Raül made a great contribution during his time with us and will always be a part of the Arsenal family,” club owners Stan and Josh Kroenke said in the statement.
“I am proud and happy with the contribution I have made over the last three years,” said Sanllehí.
But the announcement sounds like a sanction after ESPN said on Friday that Arsenal had launched an internal investigation into the transfer of Nicolas Pépé, who arrived last summer from Lille. The 25-year-old attacker has starred in an irregular first season with the London team, although he finished with 8 goals and 10 assists.
But the 79 million euros disbursed by Arsenal to sign Pépé is now considered disproportionate to the player's market value, especially for a club like the 'gunner', which claimed to have limited means of hiring.
Sanllehí joined Arsenal in 2018, after 10 years as director of football at Barcelona, but, with exceptions such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bernd Leno, some of his signings have not yielded a good result.
Arsenal have fired several of their scouts. Londoners' manager Edu appears to want to completely overhaul the club's recruiting methods, while some criticize him for being too close to influential agent Kia Joorabchian.