Interlull round-up + Sporting Director chat warms up

6 hours ago 1

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Morning folks. Happy Friday to you.

Let’s start with Arsenal players in action for their countries yesterday. Leandro Trossard played 90 minutes for Belgium, Gabriel played a full game for Brazil as they drew 1-1 with Venezuela with Gabriel Martinelli getting a few minutes at the end, and as far as I can see that was it. Today our two Spanish players, David Raya and Mikel Merino, could feature, while Jakub Kiwior is a contender for Poland as they get ready to face Portugal.

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s search for new Sporting Director – or at least someone to replace Edu in some fashion but we’re not quite sure of his or her remit yet – has seen links to Real Sociedad’s Roberto Olabe. He announced this week that he would be leaving the club at the end of the season, and speculation has mounted over his future and the vacancy with us. A Basque newspaper ‘Noticias de Gipuzkoa‘, reports:

“This newspaper has been able to confirm that, although his intention is to take a break and enjoy more time with his family, the truth is that Arsenal are very interested in acquiring his services and that he is very happy with their proposal.”

There’s a profile here in The Athletic (£), and he’s certainly had an interesting career. Spells at Real Sociedad have been punctuated by other projects in Spain and abroad, but it will be his work of late that might interest Arsenal most. La Real’s recruitment and youth development has been impressive in recent years. Players like Alexander Isak and Martin Odegaard (on loan from Real Madrid) were brought on board, Mikel Merino joined from Newcastle, and they have blooded Academy talent like Martin Zubimendi and Robin Le Normand.

This snippet from that profile might resonate with those want Arsenal to buy well but also sell better, traditionally an area where we’ve been found wanting a bit (not just under the auspices of Edu as Sporting Director, it’s fair to say):

La Real’s progress has been built on profits in transfer dealings during Olabe’s most recent spell. While head of scouting Erik Bretos did a lot of the work in identifying targets, market sources say Olabe was a tough negotiator who “does not suffer fools” and always looks for an advantage for his club.

There are obvious connections. Mikel Arteta being chief of them as a San Sebastian local, and a former Real Sociedad player. We dealt with them over the transfer of Mikel Merino this summer, and last year Kieran Tierney went on loan there, although his spell there was impacted by injury which is par for the course for him, unfortunately.

I suppose the key thing is that he will remain in situ until the end of the season, and the reality for Arsenal is that we’ll more than likely need somebody before then. The current structures might well be enough for the January transfer window, but the planning for next summer has to begin well before Olabe would be free to join, so perhaps this is one where the target might tick many of the boxes, but the timing and availability mean we have to look elsewhere.

I was curious to see Tomas Rosicky’s name mentioned too. The connection is obvious, a former player, a former teammate of Arteta too, and currently working in that role for Sparta Prague. But is that connection absolutely necessary? Not really. You just want the right person for the job. Arsenal are heavy on lawyers with some football experience right now, which isn’t a bad thing when so much of the game and the business requires legal expertise, but for someone who will be a key part of driving success on the pitch, perhaps the need is for someone more football focused first. We’ll find out in due course, I guess.

Right, I’ll leave it there for this morning. There is a brand new Arsecast for you below, chatting to Clive Palmer about Arsenal and Interlull stuff, and then I talk to Jon Spurling about his fascinating new book ‘Go to War’, all about football in the 1980s. There are some great stories and anecdotes in the book, and there’s also a chance for you to win one of two signed copies.

For now, have a good one!