Arsenal make fresh staff appointment from Bayern as Edu's rebuild continues

Arsenal have made a fresh appointment to their scouting department after hiring former Bayern Munich supremo Florian Bluchel.

Mikel Arteta has been keen to bring in his own staff following the decision to make 55 people redundant at the club last year.

That included several members of the backroom staff, such as scouts, physios and chefs, as well as long-serving head of development Francis Cagigao - who had been at the club 21 years.

But Arsenal have been looking to rebuild since the summer in an initiative that has been given to Edu to sort out.

And the latest arrival comes in the form of Bluchel, whose former employers Bayern Munich benefitted from his innovative methods.

According to Football London, the 37-year-old joins an already multi-cultural staff, along with Romain Poirot, formerly of Manchester City and Manchester United, ex-Fulham scout James Ellis and Toni Lima, who also worked at Old Trafford and Inter Milan.

Bluchel spent a decade with Bayern where he worked up to head of technical scouting from youth team video analyst.

His most recent position with the Bundesliga giants was international scout, where he focussed on the Spanish, Italian, Polish, Czech, North America and German markets.

He has been given the job as international first team scout for Germany at Arsenal, where they will utilise a mixture of methods.

Arsenal want Bluchel to combine traditional scouting with video analysis and next-gem player profiling.

But the Gunners are not just focussing on Germany, with Poirot eyeing the French football markets whereas Ellis will eye domestic competitions.

HAVE YOUR SAY! Who should Arsenal try and sign in January? Comment below.

Lima, a former Andorra international, will spend his time looking at players in Spain while all four will report directly to Edu.

The Brazilian has been put in charge of the operation, where he will decide whether any further action will take place in terms of making a bid.

Arteta is keen on bolstering his backroom staff to take the Emirates outfit back to the top.

Bluchel arrives just ahead of the January transfer window yet it remains to be seen how he shall operate.

His appointment comes nearly three years after the short term of Sven Mislintat, who was heralded as a major coup for the Gunners but left after 14 months after clashing with Edu.

Within his spell, the former Borussia Dortmund scout oversaw eight transfers - Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Bernd Leno, Sokratis, Lucas Torreira, Matteo Guendouzi and Stephan Lichtsteiner.

Of the eight, only two remain - Aubameyang and Leno - with the club right now while the likes of Mavropanos, Torreira and Guendouzi have been loaned out but can leave if a permanent bid comes in.