When the news hit that Arsenal had missed out on Monchi, there was a collective sigh of disappointment from Gunners fans.
The Spanish sporting director who is often regarded as one of the best in the business opted to reject Arsenal’s offer as technical director at the club and headed back to the club he made his name at, Sevilla.
It was a punch in the gut for Arsenal fans and members at the club, who were sure they were going to get their man. But now the north London club must look elsewhere for a technical director, and the new name on the lips is former player Marc Overmars.
Football London report that Ajax’s current director of football is open for a move to the Premier League side, however, Overmars wouldn’t move to Arsenal until the end of the season at the earliest.
As director of football Overmars has enjoyed great success. The 45-year-old was the man who brought in Frenkie De Jong to the Dutch giants for a sum of £800,000 before selling him to Barcelona for a fee of £65 million this January.
With Overmars interested in a move to north London, what could the potential consequences be of the former Arsenal winger joining his old Premier League club?
Making the right signings
Arsenal’s transfers as of late have been very hit or miss. For every Lucas Torreira and Alexandre Lacazette there’s and Mohamed Elneny and Lucas Perez, but under Overmars, the influx of bad signings could finally be ending.
Although Ajax hasn’t won a Dutch title since 2014, Overmars’ signings at the club have been impressive. The signing of Dusan Tadic this season has been one of the most effective in Europe, with the former Southampton man scoring 29 goals and assisting another 16 in all competitions this season.
Player profits
One major flaw of Arsenal’s transfer policy in the last few seasons has been the amount the club are selling players for.
Whilst Liverpool are getting close to £20 million for the likes of Dominic Solanke, Arsenal have sold Wojciech Szczesny and Serge Gnabry for a combined fee of £17 million. Under Overmars supervision, this won’t happen.
The former Dutch international is a master at turning in a profit for some of Ajax’s most profitable assets, such as the aforementioned de Jong as well as Davison Sanchez, who was sold to Tottenham last season for a reported fee of £42 million. And with the likes of David Neres and Matthijs de Ligt turning heads this season, it won’t be a surprise to see Overmars assist in turning more profit for Ajax before the end of the season
A link with one of the best
Overmars links with Ajax could also make Arsenal one of the luckiest teams on the continent.
Through Overmars, the Gunners will have slight priority over most buying clubs in Europe for Ajax players due to the connections and familiarity the former Dutch international has on young players from Amsterdam.
Arsenal at the moment don’t have the financial power to sign the likes of de Ligt or Neres, but in the future, the Gunners could one day be able to pry away some of Ajax’s finest thanks to Overmars.
Arsenal fans, would you like Overmars to be appointed as technical director?
