Ramon Rodríguez Verdejo, better known as Monchi, took up a different position for Sunday’s La Liga match between Sevilla and Sporting Gijon, observing from high up in the stands inside Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán.
It was a very deliberate move, with Monchi set to leave Sevilla at the end of the season. By being out of sight he was preparing the Spanish side for a time when he is not around.
Most teams wouldn’t bother too much about the departure of a sporting director, but most sporting directors aren’t like Monchi.
He is the man who molded Sevilla into what they are today, with his appointment in 2000 marking the start of a remarkable rise. When Monchi was named to his position 17 years ago Sevilla found themselves in the Spanish second tier. Now they are a true domestic and continental force.
When European soccer marvels at how Sevilla time and time again manage to replenish their squad despite the perennial sale of their best players every summer, it is really marveling at Monchi. He’s the man who makes that happen. He, perhaps better than anyone else in the sport, knows how to work the system. It might not be a science, but he has certainly perfected the art.
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The 48-year-old will have no shortage of offers for his services. AS Roma are already reported to have put their case forward, although Monchi denies that a deal has already been agreed with the Serie A club. And so that leaves the door open for others to steal a march. Arsenal have more to steal than most.
Indeed, the North London outfit are desperate for a figure such as Monchi. Arsene Wenger is bearing the brunt of the ire and frustration felt at the Emirates Stadium right now, but Arsenal’s problems are down to their structure as a club as much as the personnel there. Wenger might deserve much of the blame, but not everything is his fault.
Arsenal need someone to oversee the front office. Wenger might still be an exceptional coach, but he is bogging himself down by counting every area of the club as his jurisdiction. While Wenger was once a revolutionary, a vanguard of a new generation, he is now a relic of a bygone age, when managers controlled everything at a club. That is no longer realistic.
Arsenal hiring Monchi would be more significant than firing Wenger. At Sevilla, the sporting director imposed a scouting system to rival any in the game, with more than 700 scouts counted among the club’s network. For too long Arsenal have relied on Wenger’s eye for a player. It’s not so much that Monchi can identify talent himself, it’s that he implements an infrastructure that allows others to do it for him.
It’s a distinctly modern system that would fit in well with the identity of Arsenal as a club. Monchi’s appointment could even prolong the coaching career of Wenger, allowing him to focus on training ground and match day matters. Of course, the sometimes-stubborn Frenchman would have to swallow his pride in conceding so much responsibility, but he must recognize the benefits of such a move. It could preserve his Arsenal legacy.
There is no suggestion that someone like Monchi, or Monchi himself, will pitch up at the Emirates Stadium any time soon, though. Arsenal are still toiling over Wenger’s immediate future, with the rhetoric around the club growing nastier with every passing fixture. Social media debate has now spilled over into the stands, with supporters fighting during last weekend’s draw against Manchester City.
Something has to change to bring the club out of a tumultuous time. The arrival of Wenger in the 1990s heralded a new age in the history of Arsenal. Monchi’s appointment would signal a similar sort of transition.
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