Everton ‘consider’ move for former Arsenal head of football who signed Gabriel Martinelli

Everton are reportedly targeting Arsenal’s former head of football Raul Sanllehi as they begin a rebuild of the club’s hierarchy following back-to-back relegation battles.

Spanish football administrator Sanllehi has also worked at Barcelona. The 56-year-old spent 14 years at the Catalan club and was then tasked with remodelling the Gunners following Arsene Wenger’s departure in 2018.

According to the Daily Mail, Sanllehi is being targeted for a role at Everton and has admirers on Merseyside. After leaving Arsenal in 2020, Sanllehi returned to his native Spain where he currently occupies the role of director general for La Liga side Real Zaragoza.

Sanllehi made headlines in September by claiming Arsenal had made a bad mistake by allowing Mikel Arteta the same responsibilities as Wenger and claimed the head coach should simply just coach, rather than divert his attention away with other, less important roles.

“I do not agree when clubs call the first-team coach ‘the manager’,” Sanllehi told The Athletic last year. “First-team coach is first-team coach, that is enough. Nowadays, the workload is overwhelming, and I need him to concentrate on the first team.”

Previously, he was part of deals to bring a whole host of players to Arsenal, including the £72m deal that brought Nicolas Pepe from Lille. Bernd Leno, Lucas Torreira, William Saliba , David Luiz, Keiran Tierney and Willian were also signed during his time at the club.

The best deal was probabaly the signing of Gabriel Martinelli for £6m in 2019. The Brazilian has gone onto become a key starter and registered 16 goals in the league last season, and he is one of the most exciting young talents in the league.