Arsenal's search to fill the vacant role of technical director goes on.
The past week hasn't been a good one as their first choice in Monchi returned to Sevilla after leaving AS Roma and the back-up option in former winger Marc Overmars committed his future to Ajax by signing a new contract.
Therefore, it's back to the drawing board for Raul Sanllehi and Vinai Venkatesham - the head of football and managing director respectively at the Emirates Stadium - as they look to appoint someone before the summer transfer window opens.
Arsenal behind the scenes: How transfers work, Umtiti, selling Mustafi & why Suarez doesn't play
football.London understands that the Gunners have set out two key criteria in identifying candidates for the technical director role.
They must either have an Arsenal heritage or a working relationship with Emery.
But could they stray away from those principles?
Well, academy manager Per Mertesacker paid a visit to former club Werder Bremen this week and his comments will be of interest to Gunners supporters.
"Werder Bremen has a very good youth work and with Thomas Schaaf (as technical director responsible for the training concept in NLZ) someone who brings in new structures," he said, as reported by Bild.
"I talked to him and thought about what we can do together as far as players are concerned."
Thomas Schaaf has been in his position as technical director at the Bundesliga outfit since last summer and is under contract until 2021.
However, Mertesacker's comments in regards to players would suggest that his compatriot isn't in the running to be Arsenal's technical director, rather a link between the two clubs could happen in the near future.
The Michael Edwards blueprint at Liverpool that Arsenal's new technical director must follow
Keep up to date with the latest news, features and exclusives from football.london via the free football.london app for iPhone and Android.
Available to download from the App Store and Google Play .
