Raul Sanllehi has just released a statement in which he insists he leaves Arsenal “due to COVID and the need to remodel the club’s structure” (@jamesbenge) : Gunners

Maybe the club views Raul like an expensive luxury good: someone who can bring blockbuster deals featuring players the likes of which Wenger always refused to spend on over the line. He’s a connections guy from Barcelona, knows the super-agents, has contacts at the big clubs. But if the reports are right and we’re missing out on a great deal of matchday revenue that we rely on more that our peer clubs, then we can’t afford those types of players anyway.

Which in turn would mean that Raul himself is redundant: he possesses a set of skills that we can no longer afford to make use of. At a reported salary of over £1M a year, if he’s not able to bring huge players in, then we really can’t afford to keep him.