Sven Mislintat breaks silence on Arsenal exit and accuses club of breaking promises

Arsenal appointed Mislintat to revolutionise the way the club operated in the transfer market, but he left after just 14 months

Sven Mislintat reveals a breakdown in his relationship with Arsenal’s hierarchy and a number of broken promises forced him to leave the club.

The German gained a reputation of being one of the best in the business at spotting potential talent and was a key member of Borussia Dortmund’s recruitment team before joining Arsenal.

He joined the club in November 2017 and was responsible for bringing players like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi to The Emirates before his swift departure 14 months into the job.

The Sunday Times revealed he was dismayed at the decision to sign Dennis Suarez instead of promoting a number of promising young players, one of a number of things that caused friction between Mislintat and the club.

In an interview with 11Freunde, Mislintat revealed that a number of agreements between him and the club were broken, forcing him to leave.

“It had actually been agreed that I would become technical director, so then I would be around the team on a daily basis,” he revealed. “But the new leadership had their own agenda and other candidates.”

Mislintat, who is now sporting director at Stuttgart, had disagreements in the way the club identified new players.

Sven Mislintat was known as ‘Diamond Eye’ during his time at Dortmund (Getty)

“We had different approaches,” he added. “Previously we had a strong systematic approach to transfers, a mixture of watching things live as well as quality data and video analysis – Arsenal actually owns their own data company.

“That meant that we acted independently, we knew about all markets and players in all positions that came into question.

“However, the new leadership work more strongly with what they are offered from clubs or agents through their own networks."

Arsenal recently named former player Edu as their technical director. “Arsenal has always had a special place in my heart and I’m thrilled to be returning to this great club in this new role," said Edu. We have a strong squad and some very talented young players with fantastic people at every level. I’m looking forward to helping make a difference.”