Arsenal sporting director Edu wants to fight for more than just fourth place

Everyone can tell that Arsenal have changed their strategy in the transfer market since Emery was sacked. Sporting director Edu, who took up the post in 2019, is behind the change. Since last year, 10 players have come onto the field and none of them are over 25.

The sporting director told Arteta and the Arsenal board a few years ago. The changes he and Arteta managed were ruthless, costly and at times painful.

“When a player performs well and has a big salary, it’s not a problem,” Edu said in an interview with theAthletic. “When a player is over 26, on a big salary and not performing well, it kills you.”

Edu claims that in the past up to 80 per cent of Arsenal players have had great salaries but their performances have not matched that.

But that is no longer the case. About 40 players have left under Edu. Some, including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mesut Özil, had to pay the price for leaving. Several more will leave this summer.

In the interview, he stressed that Arsenal should not be built only to fight for fourth place. A club of his size can do much more.

“That really hurt me when I came back three years ago.” I asked Is everybody comfortable and everybody’s comfortable?”

“Well, fuck that, because I won’t tolerate that mentality here. Shit, now we’re really going to go about our business.”

“So we needed a team with personalities that would say, ‘I’m not going to lose this game – I’m going to kill somebody first, but I’m not going to lose’.

“And this summer, I think we added more players with that kind of character to the team.”

New arrivals

The Gunners boss spent just under £140million on six new signings during the 2021 summer transfer window alone. It turns out he didn’t miss a beat.

Given the amount of money spent, many expected the next transfer window to be particularly quiet for Arsenal. In January, no new signings joined Arsenal. Arsenal didn’t reach into their pockets even after the departure of striker Aubameyang.

In an interview with ESPN in April, Edu said. After last summer’s revolution, we need to take the next step. Our strategy is ready.”

Arsenal did not see the desired end to the season. The Gunners failed to hold their nerve and fourth place was snatched away by Tottenham.

It seems as if this embarrassment was the catalyst for Edu to step back from the club’s strategy. In fact, Arsenal signed more than two players before the end of July.

Arsenal had already bought talented teenager Marquinhos, Porto midfielder Fabio Vieira, American goalkeeper Matt Turner and four-time Premier League champion Gabriel Jesus. And the latest to arrive was Jesus’ former Manchester City teammate Oleksandr Zinchenko.

Source: TheSun, DailyMail, Athletic