Arsenal boss Unai Emery says he ‘does not know’ if head of recruitment Sven Mislintat will leave
Arsenal have this week refused to comment on reports that their highly-rated head of recruitment, who only joined the club from Borussia Dortmund fifteen months ago, is set to leave
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Your support makes all the difference.Unai Emery has said that he “does not know” if head of recruitment Sven Mislintat is poised to leave Arsenal, insisting that the club is “working normally” behind the scenes.
Arsenal have this week refused to comment on reports that their highly-rated head of recruitment, who only joined the club from Borussia Dortmund fifteen months ago, is set to leave after deciding his position in north London is untenable.
The Independent understands that Mislintat, who is wanted by Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich, is posed to quit having learned that he is not under consideration for the role of technical director.
Mislintat is also believed to be surprised at the active role Emery is taking in identifying transfer targets, particularly given that Arsenal’s new executive structure was especially designed to to dilute the influence of any head coach in that regard, after the all-encompassing power of Arsene Wenger.
Emery has however attempted to play down all of the speculation currently surrounding Arsenal’s backroom staff by claiming he “does not know” whether Mislintat will leave.
“I was working with him these last two weeks,” Emery said ahead of the visit of Chelsea this weekend. “We had two or three meetings together and we are working normally. I don't know another different issue to him.
“I don't know [whether he is leaving]. When I spoke with him it was all normal. My relationship with him for transfers in the last two or three weeks, we are speaking about that.”
Emery — who said he has not spoken with Mislintat since the news first broke that he was considering his position at the club — did however admit that this was a challenging transfer window for the club.
He has been told the club has no available funds to use signing players, meaning that only cut-price loan moves are an option.
“This transfer window is not easy to take players that can help us with better performances than the players we have now,” Emery added.
“The club is working and I spoke with Sven, with Raul [Sanllehi, Head of Football] about different possibilities with players. They are working but it is not easy to take players that can help us with big performances now.
“I think it is more one transfer for something special you need that can help us. We are looking, the club is working with the possibility to loan players and if we can take for helping us in a different position on the team, then maybe we can.”
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