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Report details how Ivan Gazidis would feel about Kia Joorabchian influence, no Bukayo Saka contract involvement

Mathew Nash

Fri 3 July 2020 9:15, UK

There has been plenty of talk in the press recently regarding Arsenal’s involvement with ‘superagent’ Kia Joorabchian. 

His involvement has seen Arsenal hand a new deal to David Luiz and sign Cedric Soares on a four-year contract. It has also seen Arsenal increasingly linked with a move for Philippe Coutinho, another of his clients. 

Now that dealing with an agent like Joorabchian is something the previous CEO Ivan Gazidis would not have done. 

They claim the now AC Milan chief found the ‘grubby aspects’ of such dealings as ‘unsavoury’. That was a view shared by former Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who rarely dealt with such agents. 

It comes amid increasing reports of Joorabchian’s influence at Arsenal. The same report touched on his involvement in Alex Iwobi’s departure to Everton last summer and a good relationship with both head of football Raul Sanllehi and technical director Edu. 

However, the recent contract renewal for Arsenal’s most exciting young prospect Bukayo Saka had nothing to do with Joorabchian,

that the 18-year-old is now on £30,000-a-week at Arsenal and it appears that Emeka Obasi handled those negotiations for the Arsenal teen. 

Arsenal fans will be pleased to hear that Joorabchian does not have his hand in all of the current affairs at The Emirates, as that level of autonomy from an external force could indeed have a negative impact on the level of recruitment available to the club. 

But it is clear that Arsenal are now in a new era when it comes to their transfer operations.