Raul Sanllehi: Inter Miami names former Arsenal and Barcelona exec president of football operations

Inter Miami has named Raul Sanllehi as president of football operations, the club announced Monday.

Sanllehi was most recently CEO of Real Zaragoza, but is best known for his time at Arsenal as head of football and Barcelona as director of football. Inter Miami managing owner Jorge Mas also owns Zaragoza.

As part of a restructuring, Inter Miami announced Sanllehi as co-president along with Xavi Asensi, who was named president of business operations.

“I would say, why not?” Sanllehi told The Athletic when asked why MLS now? “I don’t see a reason not to take this amazing project. I think this project is amazing for many reasons, but basically, because it’s a project, it’s a result of thinking big.

“I love the vision that the owners have both the Mas brothers, Jorge and Jose, and also David Beckham. They want to turn this club into a global football powerhouse.”

Sanllehi will now lead a sporting department with Chris Henderson already in place as sporting director. He says he’s not here to replace Henderson. At multiple clubs where Sanllehi has worked, it has included a hierarchy that includes a separate sporting director. Henderson will continue in that role in Miami.

“Chris is somebody I know already, because I’ve met him when I was in Zaragoza… we have a very good relationship. I have the highest respect for him. … He’s the sporting director, I am not.”

Miami are led by veteran superstars Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez and Jordi Alba, but also rising young talents like Federico Redondo, Diego Gomez, Tomas Aviles and more. They sit atop the Supporters’ Shield standings in MLS as they head into a month without Messi and Suarez — the two stars are on Copa America duty.

Sanllehi was at FC Barcelona from 2008-19, where he overlapped with Inter Miami coach Tata Martino, as well as Messi, Busquets, Suarez and Alba. Sanllehi also previously lived and worked in the United States, playing college soccer at Guilford College in North Carolina and also worked for Nike.

“My role is to try to make sure that everything flows well, that everything is coordinated,” Sanllehi said. “I like to feel like the director of an orchestra.”

What is Sanllehi’s background in Spain?

By Spain correspondent Dermot Corrigan

Barcelona-born Sanllehi spent a couple of years in his home city club’s La Masia academy as a boy. He was an executive at Nike when he returned to Barca to run its merchandising activities in 2002.

After Joan Laporta won the Barca presidency the following year, Sanllehi’s role expanded and he used his excellent networking skills to grow Barca’s influence with UEFA, FIFA and the ECA (European Clubs Association).

When another ex-Nike executive Sandro Rosell became club president in 2010, Sanllehi used his formidable political nous to survive and become Barca’s chief transfer negotiator, overseeing many moves including the signing of Neymar in summer 2013. That complicated and controversial deal led directly to Rosell resigning the following January, with Sanllehi tasked with publicly defending the deal at a press conference.

Through this time Barca continued to regularly win trophies on the pitch with a team featuring Messi as talisman — four Champions Leagues in the decade from 2005, and historic trebles including La Liga and Copa del Rey trophies in 2008-09 and 2014-15. Under Rosell’s successor Josep Maria Bartomeu, Sanllehi’s influence waned, especially after Neymar left for PSG in summer 2017, and he himself left for Arsenal six months later.

Sanllehi was hired as Zaragoza CEO in September 2022, by an ownership group whose varied members include Miami directors Jorge and Jose Mas, as well as Los Angeles based Ares Management, who also own a share of La Liga side Atletico Madrid.

Zaragoza are a ‘sleeping giant’ in Spanish football, having won eight trophies including the 1995 Cup Winners Cup, but having spent the last decade in the second tier. 

Awakening the giant was a big challenge, and Sanllehi was ultimately not successful. Operating on a mid-size budget for the second tier, the team finished 13th and 15th in the table, while cycling through three coaches and two sporting directors in 18 months. 

Local fans and pundits were critical of transfer policy, including several loans from Atletico Madrid. But homegrown youth products were developed, including 21-year-old defender Alejandro Frances, who will represent Spain at this summer’s Olympic Games.

(Photo: Inter Miami)