Exclusive: Arsenal hire new transfer expert as work begins before January window | OneFootball

Highly-rated scout has begun job as Gunners continue to reshape recruitment team

Maurizio Micheli has begun working at Arsenal, joining the club before the start of the January transfer window.

Standard Sport reported last month that the Gunners were in advanced talks to hire Micheli and that process has now been completed.

Read more: Why Arsenal are hiring transfer expert described as ‘human algorithm’

Micheli will work under Arsenal’s sporting director Andrea Berta, who was appointed earlier this year.

The club have been looking to add to their recruitment team after assistant sporting director Jason Ayto left in May.

Micheli arrives with a glowing reputation from Italy. He had stints at Hellas Verona and Bologna, before returning to Napoli in 2018 for a second spell as their head of scouting.

Under his watch, Napoli signed future stars like Kim Min-jae and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, with the club crowned Serie A champions in 2022/23 and again last season.

Micheli had spells with Udinese and Brescia before he first went to work at Napoli. It was at Brescia that he spotted Marek Hamsik playing for Slovakian side Slovan Bratislava.

“I am in touch with Maurizio Micheli, Napoli’s chief scout. I owe him a lot,” Hamsik told Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport in 2022.

Arsenal’s recruitment department has gone through a period of change since Edu resigned as sporting director a year ago.

As well as Berta coming in, James Ellis was promoted from head of recruitment to technical director last summer.

Mark Curtis was made head of football intelligence after previously being the assistant head of recruitment.