Overmars the front runner to be Arsenal's new director of football this summer

Marc Overmars, currently at Ajax as Director of Football, is the front runner to take over the same role at Arsenal in the summer.

Ajax have denied that the former Arsenal winger has been approached but he is among the candidates under consideration and has a CV that fits Arsenal's criteria.

Head of Football Raul Sanllehi, who is leading the search, will also sound out candidates in Spain, with Josh Kroenke, son of owner Stan, expected to speak with the prospective candidates.

But Overmars, who like Sanllehi is steeped in the football philosophy of Ajax and Barcelona, but also has experience in the Premier League and the obvious connection with the club, is well regarded at Arsenal. His playing career briefly intersected with Sanllehi, who joined at Barcelona in 2003, Overmars's last season as a player.

Overmars is in the frame for the job alongside Monchi, the transfer guru who made his name at Sevilla and is now at Roma. But Monchi is on such a good financial deal at the Serie A club that it would be difficult to prise him away, even though he had an excellent working relationship with Arsenal manager Unai Emery at Sevilla. Edu, another former Arsenal player under consideration, seems to have been persuaded to stay in his current role at the Brazilian FA.

Overmars' transfer record at Ajax is exactly what Arsenal need to tap into if they are to rebuild the squad and challenge again for the Premier League title. In recent years he has signed Frenkie de Jong from Willem II for £900,000, selling him to Barcelona for £66m; he signed Polish striker Arek Milik from Bayer Leverkusen in 2015 for £2.52m and sold him to Napoli 2016 for £28.8m; he signed Davinson Sanchez from Atletico Nacional in 2016 for £4m and sold him to Spurs for £25m in 2016.

Sanllehi, who has excellent football contacts around the glove, wants to add an executive with a background in football and transfers to liaise with Emery, someone is who able to talk tactics with the manager and implement a footballing vision throughout the club.