Arsene Wenger claims Ivan Gazidis has 'nothing to do with buying players' as Arsenal backroom overhaul continues

Arsene Wenger has claimed Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis “has nothing to do with buying players”.

Rumours of tension between Wenger and Gazidis continue to rumble on as the Gunners pursue a significant overhaul of their backroom setup.

Raul Sanllehi has become the latest new arrival – joining the club as “head of football relations” – and will begin work in February after resigning from his role as Barcelona’s director of football.

Sanllehi will take over the majority of tasks vacated by Dick Law, the club’s former transfer fixer, who remains working at the club in an advisory capacity.

It is significant that Sanllehi has not been given the ‘director of football’ title after Wenger openly mocked the merits of that role in May as Gazidis began searching for possible candidates in response to a dreadful run of form between January and March which he claimed had become a “catalyst for change”.

“I don’t know what it means – is it somebody who stands in the road and directs play right and left?” Wenger said at the time.

Since then, Arsenal have made several new appointments with Sven Mislintat arriving as the club’s new chief scout in place of Steve Rowley, in addition to fitness coach Darren Burgess, legal expert Huss Fahmy, coach Jens Lehmann and performance nutritionist Richard Allison.

Wenger agreed a two-year contract in the knowledge a restructuring was planned but Sanllehi’s arrival is perhaps the greatest compromise to the Frenchman’s authority yet.

And when asked about whether Mislintat will work closely with Wenger or Gazidis, the Gunners boss replied: “With me. Ivan has nothing to do with buying players.

“Look, Steve Rowley yes will stay with us, and work more with the more part-time on a youth level. And we need another scout. Today we have a structure in England, we know everybody. We have taken somebody who has international experience and that is why we made that decision.”

Although Law retains an informal role at the club during this transitional period, Gazidis has effectively taken over some of his responsibilities on an interim basis.

Speaking prior to Sanllhi’s appointment, Wenger said: “It is an option. Because you have Dick Law who retires, and has gone back to the States. He is still with us for a while, but we look for somebody as well who has experience in negotiations.

“Dick is still working with us on cases where we need to do. We have Huss, who is top drawer, but has just joined us one year ago, but is doing an excellent job, I rate him highly. There is still a need.

“I know them all because I’ve been in the game before them. So, of course, I know everybody in every club in Europe, basically I know them all.”