Arsenal Rumoured to Be Exploring Potential Sporting Director Candidates

Arsenal are reportedly putting plans in place to appoint a sporting director in order to ease the pressure on current manager Arsene Wenger and prepare for the long-term after the Frenchman's eventual departure.

According to Jeremy Wilson in the Telegraph, Dick Law, who has "liaised closely with [Wenger] on player negotiations and contracts since 2009," is prepared to step down if a sporting director is appointed.

Meanwhile, Wilson added that the exploration of potential candidates is "not specifically linked" to whether Wenger, 67, departs as Arsenal manager in the summer after more than 20 years in charge, and is more about planning for the future of the club when he does eventually call it a day. 

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Wenger has come under intense pressure of late after a run of five defeats in eight games that has seen the Gunners drop out of the Premier League's top four and crash out of the UEFA Champions League at the last-16 stage.

Per Wilson, the final decision of whether Wenger stays on at the Emirates Stadium is likely to wait until the end of the current campaign, and if he does end up leaving the process of finding a sporting director would likely be accelerated to come in with a new manager.

Wenger has enjoyed a fine career as manager of Arsenal, winning three Premier League titles and six FA Cups.

However, his last title win came over a decade ago, while the Gunners have now failed to get past the last-16 stage of the Champions League for seven consecutive seasons.

Impressively, Wenger has survived intense fan criticism and a lack of top-level silverware to remain in charge for over two decades, while other clubs sack managers at an alarming rate, per BigSport:

It would be little surprise were he to carry on as manager past the summer.

But it seems clear that Wenger's Arsenal days are likely to come to an end at some point in the next few years, and the Gunners are seemingly looking to change how things are run whenever his successor comes in.