Ever wondered how Borussia Dortmund managed to discover wonders like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Robert Lewandowski, Ousmane Dembele, Shinji Kagawa, Mat Hummels.
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Well the answer is Sven Mislintat, the German transfer fixer of Borussia Dortmund who has been at the club since 2009. Having ed the club as a scout, the german rose to prominence a year later having pushed hard for the transfer of 21 year old Shinji Kagawa from Cerezo Osaka for a mere sum of €350k.
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Over the years the man has been the reason behind the prominence of a number of players of the golden generation of the club like Mats Hummels, Jakub Blaszyczkowski, Neven Subotic, Sven Bender and Lewandowski along with Ousmane Dembele in recent years.
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And now after reports about the departure of Arsenal chief scout and long time Wenger Ally, Steve Rowley on the verge of leaving his role at club, German media outlet Kicker News reports that sources close to them have confirmed that Arsenal are indeed in advanced talks with the German over taking over at the club in the bid to restructure their recruitment system and their recent poor record in the transfer market.
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Steve Rowley the man whom he seems destined to replace has been our long standing chief scout for the last 35 years ever since Arsene Wenger took over the reins of the club in 1996. Exceptionally highly regarded him in the footballing world, Rowley seems to have fallen in between a power struggle between the Boss and Gazidis.
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Rowley’s imminent departure follows that of the chief transfer negotiator Dick Law stepping down and the arrival of Team Sky legal chief Huss Fahmy.
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Arsenal chief scout Steve Rowley is set to leave after 35 years working at Arsenal. He was made chief scout by Arsene Wenger in 1996. [@MailSport] pic.twitter.com/0XpgyoqKP0
— Arsenal TSN (@ArsenalTSN) November 9, 2017
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Seems like with the departure of both Dick Law and Steve Rowley, Gazidis might finally be seeing some light in his quest for a catalyst of change behind the changes at the Emirates.
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Meanwhile the main man in focus Sven Mislintat who had been previously approached by Bayern Munich in their bid to find a technical director, has a remarkable relationship with Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc and also had a public falling out with former manager Thomas Tuchel.
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Image obtained via Bild
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The pair suffered a complete breakdown in relations after Tuchel squarely blamed the German for the collapse of Oliver Torres’ transfer from Atletico Madrid. For a short time Sven Mislintat even stayed away from the club’s training facilities, but just a few months later manager Tuchel was shown the door while Mislintat remained at the club indicating how highly he is regarded at the Westfalenstadion.
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Mislintat has an excellent track record of identifying exquisitely talented young footballers while working on a stringent budget and has achieved tremendous respect in his time at Dortmund having discovered an excellent batch of talented and world class players which went on to win two consecutive bundesliga titles and a Champions league cup run under Klopp. [spacer height=”30px”]
Meanwhile along with Mislintat another man who is being tipped to arrive at the club is the current director of football at Barcelona Raul Sanllehi, who is also a close friend of Gazidis. Sanllehi’s arrival looks to be in the place of Dick law and will be preceded by a number of changes in Darren Burgess being brought in as head of high performance and Jens Lehmann brought back to the club as first-team coach.
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While it may not be a sea of changes behind the scenes at the Emirates, it is fairly certain that things are shifting and changes are incoming and not to the liking of Arsene Wenger with the departure of two of his closest aides in key roles at the club. Perhaps his g a new two year deal comes at the cost if letting go of a number of his key aides and this may not be the last.
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Lets hope the changes are motivated by a collective betterment of the club and not due to a petty bid by an overpaid CEO in his bid to prove hes bigger than the boss.
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Follow Arsedevils for anything and everything thats happening in and around the Emirates.
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COYG !!!
