£25m deal now looks an absolute masterstroke for Arsenal – HITC

There weren’t many tears shed by Arsenal fans in August when it was announced that Raul Sanllehi would be leaving.

The former Barcelona man was axed from his role as head of football at the Emirates Stadium, shortly after Mikel Arteta led the club to FA Cup glory.

Some Arsenal fans christened him ‘Don Raul’ during the summer of 2019 after overseeing a £72 million move to buy Nicolas Pepe.

But the Ivorian hasn’t proven anywhere near worth that sort of money yet and with William Saliba being offloaded to Nice on loan this week, that’s £99 million in transfer fees right there.

That summer – which also included the addition of David Luiz – was almost a complete disaster and probably would be if not for Kieran Tierney.

Sanllehi also gave the go-ahead for the North Londoners to bring the 23-year-old to Arsenal from Celtic – and that’s looking like an absolute bargain.

That’s because the Premier League side spent only £25 million on the Scottish left-back, who has perhaps been their best player this season.

Tierney scored his second Premier League goal for the Gunners in a 4-0 win over West Brom last week and he could – and should – have had three or four assists to his name on Saturday against Newcastle, but his team-mates spoiled his great work down the left-hand side.

In terms of left-backs, Tierney looks like he could be Arsenal’s best since Ashley Cole and even if Sanllehi is remembered for quite a few big-money flops at the moment, the young Scot means that the Spaniard did so some good at the Emirates.

In other news, Report: Celtic watched Declan Gallagher yesterday