Arsenal’s head of football Raul Sanllehi has today left the club after having been in charge of transfers for three years at Arsenal.
The Gunners confirmed that the 53-year-old Spaniard had left the club after the Kroenke owners issued a statement about his departure. Arsenal has moved quickly to replace him with Vinai Venkatesham. “Vinai Venkatesham, our current managing director, will lead us going forward,” the club said in a statement announcing Sanllehi’s exit.
Raul joined arsenal in 2017 from Barcelona and was appointed as a person that was in charge of football relation but the departure of Ivan Gazadis saw him win promotion to become Arsenal’s head of football. However, his gunners stay has come to an end after the kroenke family issued a statement confirming his departure from the club “”Raul has made a big contribution during his time with us and will always be part of the Arsenal family. We thank him for all his hard work and expertise and wish him every future success.”
We have no doubt that Vinai is the right person to take the club forward. He has shown outstanding leadership during the current crisis and is held in high regard internally and externally. We know everyone will rally round him so we can move forward successfully.
The Spaniard who joined from Barcelona, however, claims he’s left the club to seek for a new challenge “I’m proud and pleased with the contribution I’ve made at Arsenal over the past three years, and look forward to enjoying the club’s future success,” he said.
“Arsenal is a true footballing institution. I am proud to have been part of its history and I thank Stan and Josh Kroenke for this opportunity. Working with Vinai, we have built a top team for the future.”
“Mikel has made an extremely positive impact since his arrival and has formed a strong team with our technical director, Edu. The academy is in very safe hands with Per, and Huss Fahmy is a talented and highly-capable leader of our football operations.”
“Personally, I now look forward to taking some time off and spending time with family and friends before setting to work on a new challenge and cheering Arsenal on to great things.”
His departure arrived after the club lodged an investigation into the 72 million they paid arsenal winger Nicholas Pepe.