Aston Villa have confirmed the appointment of Roberto Olabe as the club’s new President of Football Operations, following the departure of Monchi.
After another tumultuous summer transfer window coupled with a disappointing start to the season, an important change has been made at the club with Monchi’s exit confirmed, ending a two-year stint with us, as per the club’s statement.
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His responsibilities now fall on Olabe, with the 57-year-old arriving after building an impressive body of work at Real Sociedad, which in turn has seen him gain recognition as one of the best recruitment operators in Europe.
With a wealth of experience working at the La Liga side coupled with spells in Qatar and elsewhere, Olabe has previous ties with Unai Emery too, and so it’s hoped that this will an important and successful partnership when it comes to strengthening and developing the squad moving forward.
It has been widely reported that Emery ultimately has the final say on our signings, and both Monchi and Director of Football Operations, Damian Vidagany, are on hand to provide him with options as part of their respective recruitment roles.
In turn, it remains to be seen if anything changes with Olabe’s arrival, as our transfer business has come under scrutiny this season in particular despite our financial constraints, as there are genuine question marks over whether or not we’ve improved the squad sufficiently to continue to progress.
With nine of the starting XI against Sunderland this past weekend arriving prior to Emery’s appointment, we’ve simply not seen enough evolution in the squad and subsequently, we’ve got an ageing squad that is perhaps hitting its ceiling.
We’ll have to wait until the January transfer window to see what strategy and direction we take under the stewardship of Olabe, but based on his work at Sociedad, the hope is that he’ll be able to unearth some gems while constructing a squad for Emery that will ensure that we remain competitive both in the short-term and long-term future, while also remaining compliant with PSR and UEFA’s regulations.
As per the club’s statement above, it also confirms that Vidagany will remain in his current role, and so it’s an important boost that Monchi’s departure hasn’t had a knock-on effect for others, and while it’s a shame to see him move on, albeit he will remain in an advisory role for V Sports, the rest of the management structure will remain in place.
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