Sven Mislintat appointed VfB Stuttgart sporting director
Sven Mislintat has been named the new sporting director of VfB Stuttgart. The former Borussia Dortmund chief scout and Arsenal head of recruitment will now oversee transfers at the three-time Bundesliga champions.
The 46-year-old will take up his position with immediate effect and work alongside the club’s sporting chairman, Thomas Hitzlsperger, who said of the appointment, "Sven Mislintat has developed a reputation in his long career. His knowledge, network and way of thinking about football are a perfect fit for us. I'm pleased he's chosen to become a part of the VfB team."
Mislintat arrives in southern Germany with a reputation for unearthing footballing gems, earning him the nickname “Diamond Eye”. In over a decade as head scout and head of first-team football with Dortmund, he discovered some of football’s biggest names, perhaps crucially doing so without breaking the bank.
Robert Lewandowski, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Shinji Kagawa, Mats Hummels, Ousmane Dembele, Christian Pulisic and Jadon Sancho are just a small sample of the now household names Mislintat brought to the Signal Iduna Park. He helped shape one of the club’s most successful eras under Jürgen Klopp as BVB won back-to-back Bundesliga titles, the DFB Cup and reached the UEFA Champions League final.
Watch: Mislintat discusses Dortmund's Footbonaut
In a little over a year in London with Arsenal, he oversaw the signings of Aubameyang, goalkeeper Bernd Leno and youngsters Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi.
Mislintat will now work alongside chairman Hitzlsperger, who had until now served as sporting director following the dismissal of Michael Reschke, and head coach Markus Weinzierl, with whom Mislintat completed his coaching badges in 2010/11, as they look to re-establish Stuttgart as a Bundesliga powerhouse.
The 2006/07 champions are currently 16th in the table and occupy the relegation play-off position with six games remaining. VfB host Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday as they look to cut their four-point gap to guaranteed safety.
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