The recruitment setup at Arsenal has experienced significant change over the last 18 months with a number of high-profile departures and arrivals.
Since Raul Sanllehi’s exit from the club in 2020, Arsenal technical director Edu has worked with Mikel Arteta, who was promoted to manager in the same summer, to add eight first-team signings to the core of the team who now feature regularly.
With Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s removal as club captain, it is expected that one of the aforementioned acquisitions could also take on the mantle with football.london understanding Martin Odegaard and Ben White are amongst the possible candidates.
However, the changes in the department have not stopped there and major scouting additions have been made in the form of Toni Lima, Romain Poirot and James Ellis who will focus on the Spanish, French and domestic market of players respectively.
The Gunners have now added Florian Bluchel, formerly of Bayern Munich, who will focus on the German market. His experience with Bayern saw his responsibilities expand into Spain, Italy, North America, the Czech Republic and Poland.
After a decade of poor decision-making in the windows and huge fees and wages paid for and to players who have underperformed and contributed to the club’s lack of progression, it appears Arsenal are moving in a better direction.
Bluchel’s involvement in helping Bayern Munich identify talents in Spain could have an immediate impact in his new job with Arsenal.
The midfield remains an area in need of refurbishment with the futures of Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Mohamed Elneny not expected to extend into the long term. The disappointing performances of Thomas Partey and injury issues associated with the Ghanaian and teammate Granit Xhaka have furthered the need for recruitment in the position.
Bayern midfielder Marc Roca’s name has been discussed previously as a short-term January fix for Arsenal’s lack of strength in depth.
Only recently brought back into the Bavarian side’s starting eleven by Julian Nagelsmann, the lack of minutes in Germany led to frustration and the potential search for more opportunities.
With Bluchel’s involvement in the Spanish market, Roca was seemingly identified with the scout’s influence and could again see a recommendation this time at the German's new north London employer.
Roca stood out at Espanyol as their star player and a leader despite his young age at the time. Arsenal’s need for further influential figures in the group along with quality midfield reinforcement lends itself to the 25-year-old making plenty of sense as an option.
With a need to reinforce at striker and in other areas needing quality depth, Roca presents as a relatively cheap option considering a loan deal may be feasible.
Yet, the news regarding the African Cup of Nations’ possible postponement may now affect how pressing the need to reinforce the Gunners midfield is.
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