Borussia Dortmund have admitted their regret at Sven Mislintat’s departure to join Arsenal as head of recruitment – but insist sporting director Michael Zorc will not follow him to Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners confirmed Mislintat’s appointment this afternoon, clarifying that he will begin work next month with Steve Rowley standing down from his role as chief scout after 35 years but remaining at the club on a consultancy basis, as reported by Standard Sport this morning.
Mislintat’s arrival is a significant coup for Arsenal given he is credited with unearthing a stream of young talent including Shinji Kagawa, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ousmane Dembele.
Speculation had persisted that Zorc would also move to north London to assume a role which manager Arsene Wenger has publicly derided – a director of football or sporting director position – but a Dortmund club spokesman dismissed those rumours at a press conference ahead of their Champions League match against Tottenham tomorrow night.
“We would like to keep him [Mislintat] of course,” said director of communications Sascha Fligge.
“He has been doing great scouting for the last ten years with Michel Zorc. He helped an improved scouting for the club and made it more professional. We have an extremely good relationship to him still.
“Of course, because of what he achieved, we decided this morning we will release him and let him go.”
Asked to confirm whether Zorc would stay, Fligge added: “Yes, definitely. There were rumours in England but this was just a rumour. He will definitely stay with us.”
