Arsenal’s head of recruitment, Francis Cagigao, is among 55 staff members who will leave the club after a swathe of redundancies was announced.
Cagigao has forged a formidable reputation during 24 years of service at Arsenal, for whom he also played as a youngster, but he has been told his services are no longer required and will leave when terms between the parties have been finalised.
The head of UK recruitment, Pete Clark, and the former Reading and Leeds manager Brian McDermott are other members of the scouting department to be dispensed with, and others are understood to fear for their positions amid a significant restructuring.
The decision to release Cagigao will come under particular scrutiny given his glowing track record, which has earned him a reputation among the world’s top talent spotters. Cesc Fàbregas, Héctor Bellerín and Gabriel Martinelli are among the young players he unearthed, and he has been instrumental in numerous other high-profile deals in the past two decades.
But while there is surprise and considerable anger internally regarding the redundancies, there is also a certain sense the scouting department had been considered ripe for targeting. Arsenal’s hierarchy is perceived to have chosen a more agent-led approach to earmarking players over the past 18 months, with Kia Joorabchian’s influence coming under increasing scrutiny, and disquiet about their processes has been growing.
Staff in other areas will also be affected. A joint statement from the managing director, Vinai Venkatesham, and head of football, Raúl Sanllehí, argued the proposal to cut jobs was necessary because Arsenal, whose largest shareholder is the American businessman Stan Kroenke, have suffered severe drops in commercial and matchday revenue as a result of Covid-19. They are the first Premier League club to announce major job losses.
Venkatesham and Sanllehí promised the cost-cutting measures would allow Arsenal to keep investing in their squad. The club, who qualified for the Europa League after winning the FA Cup, are trying to convince Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to sign a new contract and hope to bring in Willian on a three-year deal when his Chelsea contract expires this month. Mesut Özil, their best-paid player, earns £350,000 a week.
“Our main sources of income have all reduced significantly,” Venkatesham and Sanllehí said. “Revenue from broadcasters, matchday and commercial activities have all been hit severely and these impacts will continue into at least the forthcoming 2020-21 season.
“We all hope there will be no ‘second wave’ but we also need to accept that is one of the many uncertainties ahead of us and plan accordingly. Over recent years we have consistently invested in additional staff to take the club forward but with the expected reduction of income in mind, it is now clear that we must reduce our costs further to ensure we are operating in a sustainable and responsible way, and to enable us to continue to invest in the team.
“Our aim has been to protect the jobs and base salaries of our people for as long as we possibly can. Unfortunately, we have now come to the point where we are proposing 55 redundancies. We do not make these proposals lightly and have looked at every aspect of the club and our expenditure before reaching this point. We are now entering the required 30-day consultation period on these proposals.
“We know this is upsetting and difficult for our dedicated staff and our focus is on managing this as sensitively as possible. These proposed changes are ultimately about ensuring we take this great football club forward, creating the right organisation for a post-Covid world, and ensuring we have the resources to return to competing effectively at the top of the game here and in Europe.”
In April Arsenal agreed a 12.5% pay cut over the next 12 months with most of their men’s first-team squad and all the coaching staff. The cut is due to drop to 7.5% as a result of Europa League qualification. Arsenal’s wage bill in their most recently published accounts, for 2018-19, was £232m.
The club continued to pay staff in full during football’s lockdown instead of falling back on the furlough scheme. The club’s 14 executives agreed to a one-third salary cut for the next year.
In a statement the Arsenal supporters’ trust criticised the cuts: “AST is sad to see the news that 55 members of staff are to be made redundant. Arsenal players have contributed to savings at the club by taking voluntary wage cuts. We had hoped these savings would be used to ensure all Arsenal staff are looked after in these difficult times.”