Sven Mislintat

Mislintat with VfB Stuttgart in 2022

Sven Mislintat (born 5 November 1972) ^[1] is a German football scout and sporting director. He is nicknamed "Diamantenauge" (Diamond Eye) for his ability in spotting players. ^[2]

He was the chief scout at Borussia Dortmund from 2006 to 2017, signing players such as Robert Lewandowski and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and performed the same role at Arsenal from 2017 to 2019. From 2019 to 2022, he was sporting director at VfB Stuttgart, and director of football at Ajax in 2023.

Biography

Born in Kamen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Mislintat is a graduate of Ruhr University Bochum. ^[1] He qualified as a football coach in 2011. ^[3]

Mislintat went from being an analyst to being chief scout at Borussia Dortmund in the Bundesliga in 2006. The team, which had been saved from bankruptcy a year earlier, changed its recruitment from making big-money transfers to signing and developing young players. His signings included Polish striker Robert Lewandowski in 2010, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as his replacement in 2014, Japanese second division winger Shinji Kagawa, young French forward Ousmane Dembélé and Bayern Munich II defender Mats Hummels; all performed well at Dortmund and several were sold for significant profits. ^[4] Dembélé joined from Rennes for €15 million in 2016 and was sold to Barcelona a year later for €105 million. ^[5]

In November 2017, Mislintat left Borussia Dortmund for Arsenal. He said that he had been looking for an exit from the Westfalenstadion since January 2016, when he was banished from the club's training ground and inner circle by manager Thomas Tuchel, over an argument about signing Óliver Torres from Atlético Madrid. ^[6] He remained at the Emirates Stadium until February 2019. He signed eight players, of which two were sold for small profits, resulting in a £103 million loss for the club. The largest loss was for Aubameyang, who followed him to Arsenal for £56 million and left for Barcelona for free. ^[7] In 2021, he defended all his signings in an interview with The Athletic . ^{[8] [9]}

Mislintat returned to the Bundesliga as sporting director at VfB Stuttgart in April 2019. ^[10] He left in November 2022. ^[11] He was then linked to Liverpool, managed by his former Dortmund colleague Jürgen Klopp. ^[12] The following April, he was hired at Ajax to fill the director of football position left vacant for over a year by Marc Overmars. ^[13] On 24 September 2023, Mislintat was fired due to a lack of support within the club ^[14] while he was being investigated whether he had a conflict of interest when he bought a player for Ajax through a broker in which he had 35% share. ^[15]

References

1. Schneider, Sven (20 February 2021). "Konkurrenz für Sebastian Kehl: Ex-Scout rückt in den Fokus des BVB - und äußert sich zu Gerüchten". Westfälischer Anzeiger (in German). Retrieved 18 November 2022.
2. Bark, Marcus (22 November 2017). "Der BVB verliert sein „Diamantenauge"". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 18 November 2022.
3. Ford, Matt (13 April 2019). "Sven Mislintat has a big rebuilding job to do at Stuttgart". Deutsche Welle . Retrieved 18 November 2022.
4. "5 diamonds Sven Mislintat unearthed at Borussia Dortmund". Bundesliga. 22 February 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
5. Uersfeld, Stephan (4 December 2017). "Sven Mislintat: Arsenal signed me from Dortmund with 'brutal expectations'". ESPN . Retrieved 18 November 2022.
6. Uersfeld, Stephan (21 November 2017). "Thomas Tuchel fall-out behind Dortmund exit - Sven Mislintat". ESPN. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
7. Lee, Michael (2 August 2022). "The £103m loss Arsenal have made on the 8 players Mislintat signed". Planet Football. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
8. Honigstein, Raphael (10 March 2022). "Mislintat exclusive: I don't feel ashamed of any of the transfers at Arsenal". The Athletic (Archived). Archived from the original on 2021-12-07.
9. Dowdeswell, Andrew (10 March 2021). "The hits and misses from Sven Mislintat's eight Arsenal signings as he launches staunch defence". Football London. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
10. "Sven Mislintat appointed VfB Stuttgart sporting director". Bundesliga. 11 April 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2022.
11. Doyle, Ian (30 November 2022). "Sven Mislintat 'emerges as candidate' to become next Liverpool sporting director". Liverpool Echo . Retrieved 11 April 2023.
12. "Sven Mislintat: Liverpool sporting director role interests former Arsenal head of recruitment". Sky Sports. 1 December 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
13. "Ajax hire Mislintat to finally replace Overmars as director of football". Yahoo! Sports. 11 April 2023. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
14. "Ajax ontslaat technisch directeur Mislintat met onmiddellijke ingang" [Ajax fires technical director Mislintat with immediate effect] (in Dutch). 24 September 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
15. "Mislintat kocht via zakenrelatie speler voor Ajax, Amsterdamse club start onderzoek" (in Dutch), NOS , 19 September 2023. Retrieved 2 October 2023.