As Arsene Wenger’s tenure edged towards its inevitable conclusion, it was no longer clear who held ultimate power at Arsenal when Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang arrived in January, and more significantly who signed off on the club-record deal. Wenger’s team selections insinuated he wasn’t wholly convinced by summer signing Alexandre Lacazette and Alexis Sanchez’s mid-season departure to Manchester United created a void in the squad that another goalscorer needed to fill. Equally though, it was impossible to ignore how Sven Mislintat had used his Dortmund connections to make his first significant mark as head of recruitment, a role and job title Wenger has always deplored, and how the...
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