Director sets date to leave current club as Arsenal link intensifies | OneFootball

Real Sociedad director Roberto Olabe is reportedly leaving the club at the end of the season and it looks like Arsenal are emerging as a potential next destination.

The Gunners have a good relationship with Sociedad, having done plenty of business together in recent times over players like Mikel Merino, Kieran Tierney and Nacho Monreal, while Mikel Arteta also played for the Basque club for a spell in 2004/05.

The Athletic have reported on Olabe leaving Sociedad and suggest this will put top clubs on alert, and a report from Todo Fichajes follows this up by naming Arsenal as possible suitors as they look to replace Edu.

It was recently announced that Edu would be leaving his role at the Emirates Stadium, and it won’t be easy to replace the Brazilian after some superb work to rebuild the club alongside manager Arteta.

Who will link up with Mikel Arteta as Arsenal’s new sporting director? (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Who is Roberto Olabe and could he be a good candidate for Arsenal?

Olabe has been director of football at Sociedad since 2018 and has been instrumental in helping the team improve since then.

The Basque outfit have done well to unearth some top talents on the cheap or promote from their academy, and it’s helped them to make a healthy profit from player sales whilst remaining competitive in La Liga and in Europe.

Olabe looks like he could surely do a good job for Arsenal, though it remains to be seen if they might favour former players stepping into that role, just as Edu was.

Former Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker could be one to watch as he already has a role with the north London giants’ academy, so would make sense as a smart promotion from within.