According to BBC Sport and The Athletic, Arsenal are set to appoint Maurizio Micheli to a senior recruitment role.
The 57-year-old Italian is currently head of scouting at Napoli, where he’s credited with identifying and signing Marek Hamsik during his time at Brescia before bringing him to Naples. Across two spells with the Serie A champions, he’s also been involved in the recruitment – and lucrative sales – of Kim Min-jae and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.
Micheli’s previous experience includes stints with Bologna, Verona and Udinese.
The move to bring him to north London is said to be led by sporting director Andrea Berta, who is looking to strengthen a recruitment setup that already includes James Ellis, recently promoted to technical director following Jason Ayto’s departure.
In a recent interview with ADN Deportes, Arsenal’s South America scout Jonathan Vidalle shed some light on the scale of the club’s scouting operation.
“We have eight scouts dedicated to the first team, covering the entire world,” he said.
“Then 14 people handle video analysis, watching at least three matches a day from any league. And another four or five focus specifically on youth recruitment in the UK.”
It’s possible that the operation has grown even further in recent months – Transfermarkt currently lists 22 staff members involved in player identification at various levels.
If Micheli does join, don’t expect a formal announcement from the club – they rarely publicise backroom appointments of this nature – but he’ll no doubt be spotted in the directors’ box before long.