Sven Mislintat reveals why he opted to join Arsenal after turning down past offers to leave Borussia Dortmund

Coup | Arsenal's appointment of Mislintat is viewed as a major victory for the Gunners
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James Benge21 November 2017

Arsenal’s incoming head of recruitment Sven Mislintat has revealed that a bust-up with former head coach Thomas Tuchel convinced him to consider a departure from Borussia Dortmund.

The Gunners yesterday announced a major coup in the appointment of ‘Diamond Eye’ Mislintat, whose 10 years at Dortmund saw the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Ousmane Dembele and Shinji Kagawa emerge as stars at the Westfalenstadion.

Mislintat had previously been targeted by Bayern Munich but revealed that he had been rejecting those offers until falling out with Tuchel.

That row broke out in January 2016, reportedly due to Dortmund’s failure to sign Atletico Madrid midfielder Oliver Torres.

“I probably never would have considered thinking about other clubs,” Mislintat told Kicker.

“But the training ground ban, initiated by the club's former coach, as well as the instructions to keep away from the inner circle, from players, from the staff, from many friends with whom I worked so closely throughout the years, all of that influenced my thinking.

“I already had offers in the past years, but I never really considered making changes.”

On leaving Dortmund Mislintat paid tribute to chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke and sporting director Michael Zorc, the latter of whom also hailed Arsenal’s new recruitment chief for his “excellent job” in the Bundesliga.