Ex-director says Arsenal have 'betrayed the model' and 'made mistake' with Arteta role

The 56-year-old Spaniard has had his say on the current running of the Gunners, offered his opinion on American owners the Kroenkes and opened up on his exit, saying the club has 'betrayed the model'.

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Sanllehi first joined Arsenal in February 2018 as their new head of football relations, moving to the Premier League after 14 years at Barcelona, before being promoted to the Gunners' head of football following the departure of CEO Ivan Gazidis.

Towards the end of his spell at the club - following Unai Emery's doomed reign as manager - he implemented a new model, a four-person 'dream team' to split the running of Arsenal into distinct and separate roles.

In those roles were head coach Mikel Arteta, technical director Edu, head of football operations Huss Fahmy and academy manager Per Mertesacker, with Sanllehi guiding them all - in his words - 'like the director of the orchestra'.

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In an interview with The Athletic, he recalls a meal the five of them shared in December 2019, where Sanllehi raised a toast, saying: "Now, it is on us. Now it is exactly the model I asked for. If it does not work, we have no excuses."

However by March, by his own admission, 'it all fell apart' as he was forced to leave the club as part of the cost-cutting measures that saw the director lay off 55 people before he himself was let go due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Now, he says, things appear to have gone back to how things were done under Arsene Wenger, who was still manager when he first arrived in north London.

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He saw how Arsenal operated under the legendary Frenchman, who had his thumbs in all the pies in the operation of the club, and apparently didn't like it - wanting to take pressure off the shoulders of the coach.

But now Arteta seems to have become that central figure behind the scenes, and Sanllehi explained why he believes it's a 'mistake'.

Although he did admit that - so far - it's working for them, with the Gunners sitting top of the Premier League table after an impressive start to the season and successful summer transfer window.

Sanllehi, now the sporting director of Spanish second division side Real Zaragoza, said: "Within the model, there are four points: head coach, sporting director, football operations and academy, and they need to be very well coordinated."

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"Arsenal had decided to move on from Arsene Wenger — one boss who did everything.

"We had a good coach in Unai, but it was crucial for Arsenal to make the Champions League and losing the Europa League final to Chelsea made us stay there, which made the second year hell for Unai.

"It had been the one-boss model. All respect for Arsene — what he did for Arsenal is unique and probably at that moment in time the best way to do it — but you had to develop, and that is what happened.

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"The sporting director setup was very new in England. I had to explain that. His highest priority is the first-team, but he also needs to be in contact with the academy and to know the transfer market.

"When things don't go well, you change the head coach. But the technical director is the one who protects the sporting philosophy of the club and safeguards the model.

"I am in the middle, like the director of the orchestra. Here are the drums, the cymbals, the violins and the trumpets. They are very good, but if you do not coordinate them, they may sound awful.

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"At Arsenal, as head of football, I put Huss, Edu, Mikel and Per — the perfect cross.

"I do not agree when clubs call the first-team coach 'the manager'," he adds.

"First-team coach is first-team coach, that is enough. Nowadays, the workload is overwhelming, and I need him to concentrate on the first team.

"Anything that distracts you from that is not your responsibility — travel arrangements, the pitch, salary budget, medical department. We will get other people to do that. The first-team coach is short-term oriented — just win tonight's game.

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"They have betrayed the model a little bit now.

"By going back to the manager at the top, that is a mistake, but that is their mistake.

"I would have not allowed that to happen. But that's fine, it is working so far for them."

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