With some speculation mounting that suggested Arsenal sporting director Edu would soon depart for a fresh challenge, at the beginning of the week the Gunners officially confirmed his exit.
The two time league title winning ‘Invincible’ left the Brazilian Football Association to rejoin his former club as technical director in the summer of 2019, and in November of 2022 he was promoted to the sporting director role, and although the 46 year old 15 capped full international explained that it had been an ‘incredibly’ difficult to tender his resignation, he knew that it was time to seek a new, and different, challenge.
Edu was, of course, very involved in bringing Arteta to the club and shares in the success of their FA Cup win, and far more consistent challenge at the top of the Premier League table with them finishing as back to back runners up to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side.
Given he was such an integral part of their system – ten of last Saturday’s starting XI were signed following his appointment – and given that for many, the news will have simply come out of left field, there will be those who wonder whether or not recent Arteta speculation may have been closer to the mark than many imagined, or alternatively, whether the continuing off pitch changes may have influenced his decision.
Whatever ultimately drove his decision, his loss will be felt as although they have certainly had transfer mishaps with some incoming players not living up to their expected billing, their captures have been more consistent than many rivals over the same period.
Whilst acknowledging that loss and the role he played in transforming the club, Arteta was insistent that the ‘very ambitious’ vision that the Emirates Stadium outfit had was on track, and would remain unaltered despite his departure. Ultimately because it is a vision that comes from the owners, down the staff and onto the pitch and he was confident that the new appointments, including whoever ultimately becomes Edu’s replacement, would not skip a beat when it came to their January, and then the all important summer transfer window plans.
With the club currently sitting seven points behind league leaders Liverpool having suffered two defeats and picked up a draw across their last three Premier League games, the timing will look like an unfortunate additional headache for them from the outside, but spirits will remain high given they are unbeaten in the Champions League campaign and will be confident of continuing that form in their game with Italian Serie A side Inter Milan.