Former Arsenal chief blasts Gunners over two huge transfer mistakes

Sven Mislintat, former Arsenal technical director

Arsenal have been heavily criticised for allowing two players to depart the club last summer, by their former head of recruitment Sven Mislintat.

The German spent a colourful 14 months in charge of Arsenal recruitment between 2017 and 2019. However, he departed under something of a cloud and took up a role at Stuggart.

The Gunners now have Edu in charge of transfers at the club, albeit in a technical director role.

However, he feels Arsenal have made a huge mistake in allowing both Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi leave last summer.

The duo moved on loan to Atletico Madrid and Hertha Berlin, respectively. And in the case of Guendouzi, he may have played his last game for the club.

Mislintat brought the pair to Arsenal though and feels their departures were a mistake.

Mislintat told The Athletic: “I respect Mikel a lot. I’d love to talk to him one day, to understand his reasons for sending Matteo as well as Lucas Torreira on loan, and tell him my view in relation to their qualities.

“If you’re not playing Matteo in midfield, it must be a very strong midfield.”

Mislintat was the man credited with bringing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Emirates Stadium. However, some of his other deals – such as the ones for Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Stephan Lichtsteiner – did not work out so well.


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Mislinant defends Arsenal record

Mislintat, however, is adamant that he did a good job when in charge of Arsenal deals.

“I don’t feel ashamed of any of those transfers, on the contrary, I will always defend these guys,” he added.

“Not because they were my players but because they were Arsenal players and capable ones. They turned up.

“The team went unbeaten in 22 games in all competitions, made it to the Europa League final and finished fifth with 70 points.

“You can say that’s not good enough. But many teams would love to finish fifth now.

“I felt that we were on the right track and I would have enjoyed the opportunity to develop further at Arsenal.”

Mislintat has previously explained why Aubameyang missed out on a huge transfer to Barcelona.