Sven Mislintat admits to leaving Arsenal because of Edu’s appointment at the club

Director snub caused Mislintat exit

Sven Mislintat arrived at Arsenal during the latter stages of Arsene Wenger’s tenure as manager. He, alongside Raul Sanhelli, was brought in to effectively be part of the restructure that would continue on after the French manager left.

However, the German left during Unai Emery’s tenure and has spoken of how it was the club’s decision to hire Edu as technical director instead of him which led to his departure.

“Arsene left after the end of the season of course and a few months later Ivan Gazidis left to become CEO at Milan. At that point, Arsenal restructured its leadership,” said Mislintat.

“I applied for the newly-created technical director role and Raul Sanllehi and Vinai Venkatesham, who succeeded Ivan in a co-leadership role at Arsenal, decided to go for someone else.

“We then agreed in a very respectful way that I would leave, all entirely amicable.”

He has now taken over a similar role which he applied for at Arsenal at Bundesliga club Stuttgart and helped them sign some hidden gems as they were promoted last season.

Mislintat wants Mavropanos extension

One of the players that Mislintat signed early on during his period as Arsenal’s head of recruitment was Greek defender Konstantinos Mavropanos. The youngster earned minutes under Arsene Wenger before the French manager moved on from the club and he unfortunately suffered a series of injuries which kept him out of contention during his time under Unai Emery.

This season, he has spent time on loan with Stuttgart after Mislintat orchestrated the temporary signing and confirmed they would like him for a further year.

“We’re super happy that he’s been a regular starter in recent weeks. We would like to keep him on loan one more season, if possible. But that will be down to Arsenal,” said Mislintat.

“It’s important for us to get him fully match fit. If he can stabilise physically, he’s undoubtedly a Bundesliga-level defender. He’s one of the fastest centre-backs in the league alongside Dayot Upamecano. A super guy, a model professional. You have to admire his energy, all the strength it took to get over his injuries.”

With the contract of David Luiz expiring at the end of the campaign and the club having already moved on the likes of Sokratis Papastathopoulos and Shkodran Mustafi, Mavropanos could have a chance to compete with fellow loanee William Saliba for a place in the team next season.

Former Arsenal recruitment specialist Sven Mislintat has Stuttgart contract extended after overseeing fantastic squad construction and league competitiveness

Could Arsenal’s contract negotiation behaviour change with the appointment of Richard Garlick as director of football operations?

This article was edited by Robert Fosterman.

Source: 101greatgoals.com