James King to join Arsenal as director of football operations

Arsenal have appointed their former executive James King as their new director of football operations, according to The Athletic journalists David Ornstein and James McNicholas.

Gunners’ managing director Richard Garlick used to occupy the role before taking up his current position after Vinai Venkatesham left his role as CEO at the end of last term.

King left Arsenal to join the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) as general counsel in May 2022 having worked with the club since 2016, helping out with commercial deals for their legal team before moving to their football operations department in 2018.

He was the senior legal counsel for football operations at the North London club before leaving and is now returning as director of football operations.

King brings much-needed experience to the table having worked with Arsenal’s men’s, women’s and academy teams during his first spell, and he will now be playing a huge role in transfers across the three teams going forward.

His brief spell with the PFA will also come in handy, and the Gunners will benefit from his wealth of experience going forward.

King will be working with Garlick and sporting director Edu Gaspar, and winning the Premier League and Champions League regularly will be his top agenda.

Arsenal last won the English top-flight title in 2004 and have never won the elite European competition, reaching the final in 2006.

They have started 2024-25 strongly across both competitions and will look to further strengthen their squad depth in January following injuries to key players so far, and King will be looking to help manager Mikel Arteta bolster his team with the right players.