Arsenal legend Robert Pires has given his backing to Marc Overmars to be the club’s new Director of Football despite a deal for Monchi reportedly already being in place. The Gunners are on the hunt for a new transfer guru to lead their recruitment following Sven Mislintat’s departure and Monchi appears to be the favourite, with reports in Spain claiming he will move to north London when his contract with Roma expires.
Ajax chief Overmars has also been mooted as a possibility, and Pires believes the Dutchman would be a better fit due to his close ties with the club.
‘Director of Football is a very difficult job and I do think it is a necessity in modern football,’ Pires told bwin. ‘The transfer market is crazy and it puts a lot of pressure on the club to be spending money wisely otherwise mistakes can very quickly become very expensive.
‘I would like to see Marc Overmars back at Arsenal and I think he would work very well with Raul Sanllehi. Overmars loves the club and he would be loved by the fans so he would be a very welcome appointment. I know he is committed to Ajax and feels he has a job to finish there so perhaps he wouldn’t move in the middle of the season, but he knows Arsenal so well after a great career at the club so it would be great to see him back.’
Overmars has been in his current role at Ajax since 2012 and overseen their excellent recruitment of players, making massive profits on the likes of Davinson Sanchez, Arkadiusz Milik and Frenkie de Jong.
Meanwhile, According to a report Football.London, Arsenal could consider parting company with Alexandre Lacazette this summer transfer market. French striker made the move to the Emirates Stadium in the summer of 2017, after the Gunners agreed to fork over a sum with the potential to rise to €60m to Ligue 1 side Lyon. And the 27-year-old star has since gone on to prove himself as a firm fan-favourite in North London. To this point in his Arsenal career, Lacazette has netted 27 goals across all competitions.
However, while the French star has not proven overly-prolific, Alexandre has contributed to the Gunners cause in a multitude of other ways. His all-around game, this campaign, in particular, has generally shown to be of the highest order, with the one-time Lyon player’s work-rate having endeared him to the club faithful. In spite of his efforts, however, Arsenal manager Unai Emery has frequently opted to leave Lacazette out of his senior-choice eleven this season.
Though the forward has seen considerably more playing time of late, the star was often benched over the early months of the term, as Emery opted for Gabon international Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as his first-choice striker. And, as per the same report from Charles Watts, the presence of the former Borussia Dortmund star at the Emirates Stadium could surprisingly see the club opt to part ways with Alexandre Lacazette come the summer.
This season, in all competitions, the powerful centre-forward has made 33 appearances, scored 12 goals and picked up 8 assists for his side thus far.