Raul Sanllehi, Arsenal’s head of football, has revealed the steps that were taken to appoint Unai Emery as the successor to Arsene Wenger, saying the new head coach was the unanimous choice of all involved in the process.

Sanllehi, the former Barcelona director of football who joined Arsenal last year, said he “did not find one element of criticism” of Emery in his discussions with players, chairmen and technical directors who had worked with the Spaniard in the past.

He added that it was deemed inappropriate to include Wenger, who had managed the team for 22 years, in the selection process for the new head coach because they wanted the appointment to be made as objectively as possible.

Sanllehi worked closely with Ivan Gazidis, the former chief executive, and head of recruitment Sven Mislintat in the search for Wenger’s replacement. Those three conducted interviews with various candidates before including contract negotiator Huss Fahmy and analytics expert Jaeson Rosenfeld in the final decision.

“There was a very high level but unanimously we agreed, all of us, at the first round that Unai Emery was the person that ideally would include all of the dimensions we wanted to lead this new project,” Sanllehi said.