Key man behind £63m Newcastle United record transfer & Arsenal deal announces shock departure

Real Sociedad sporting director Roberto Olabe is set to leave the club at the end of the season after a successful spell. Under Olabe’s watch, Sociedad have been a regular fixture in European competitions, winning the 2019-20 Copa del Rey and reaching the last-16 of the Champions League last season.

This is despite regularly losing some of their top stars. Over the summer, Mikel Merino left to join Arsenal and Martin Odegaard also joined The Gunners back in 2021 after a successful loan spell with the San Sebastian side.

In 2022, Olabe was part of the negotiations that led to a club-record sale of Isak to Newcastle for £63million. Isak has since scored 40 goals in 78 games for Newcastle.

That move came just three years after Real Sociedad purchased Isak from Borussia Dortmund for around £8million. Merino was also sold for around £33million to Arsenal having been signed by Sociedad from Newcastle in 2018 for just £10million.

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According to The Athletic, Olabe is contracted until 2026 but has informed the club that he intends to leave at the end of the current season. He has previously been considered for positions at Real Madrid and Aston Villa as he has previously worked with Unai Emery.

But Villa have since appointed another former goalkeeper, Monchi, as president of football operations.

Newcastle may have to take some player-trading lessons from a club like Real Sociedad, who have managed to remain competitive at the top end of La Liga - even winning a trophy ahead of the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid - despite selling key players for big profits.

Newcastle’s sporting director Paul Mitchell warned back in September: “When sustainability is real, you cannot keep spending and not selling any football players, the maths doesn't work.

“I think sales need to become part of our strategy but that shouldn’t be a detriment to our performance. Every institution I’ve been at has sold players for quite substantial amounts but, without doing the analysis, I don’t think we’ve ever suffered in performance for that. And that’s the model we need to entrench here.”