Sven Mislintat has defended his record of signings during his time with Arsenal’s despite the fact just two of the eight players to join under his regime still make up part of the squad.
Only Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bernd Leno are still at club, having joined when the figure, dubbed ‘diamond eye‘, was the head of recruitment.
Two of the players, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Sokratis, have had their contracts terminated, whilst Matteo Guendouzi, Lucas Torreira and Dinos Mavropanos were shipped off on-loan last summer. Meanwhile Stephan Lichtsteiner left the Gunners after only one season with the team.
In an interview with The Athletic, the Stuttgart scout defended his record in north London, claiming all eight players were ‘capable’.
Mislintat said: “I don’t feel ashamed of any of the transfers, on the contrary, I will always defend these guys. Not because they were my players but because they were Arsenal players and capable ones. They turned up.”
Was Mislintat a success or failure at Arsenal?
Success
Failure
Well, let’s analyse each of the eight signings and see if they were as capable as Mislintat claims.
Nothing need to be said about Aubameyang and Leno, who are both the first names on the team sheet in any crunch game. You’d fully expect the duo to start in today’s crucial clash with Olympiacos in the Europa League, a show of how important they’ve been since their arrivals in N5.
However, there are eyebrows raised when you look at the likes of Torreira and Guendouzi. The Uruguayan never possessed the ball-playing ability to succeed under a possession-based style of play despite his sensational defensive abilities. On the other hand, whilst, the France youth international had an abundance of talent, however, has shown no signings of changing the attitude problems he’s been plagued with most his young career.
Lichtsteiner didn’t set the world alight during his season-long spell in Unai Emery’s first season and his release following the loss in the Europa League final speaks volumes. Likewise, Sokratis and Mkhitaryan never went above and beyond to show off any of their talents during their time with Arsenal and left the club after having their deals terminated.
However, there is one plus point in Mavropanos, who has been setting the Bundesliga alight with his displays for Stuttgart under the watchful eye of the former Gunners scout, who has claimed he and Dayot Upamecano are the fastest two players in the German top-flight.
Two terminations, one with attitude problems, another who doesn’t fit the style of play and a veteran whose didn’t warrant an extension on his contract. It’s hard to see how Mislintat can defend his record when on the face of it, five of the eight players have proven to be flops.
In other news, Arsenal are looking to make an offer for a January transfer target.