Edu abandons Arsenal project at critical moment despite ambitious transformation admission

Edu Gaspar is set to leave Arsenal Football Club as sporting director and join Evangelos Marinakis’ group of clubs. Having spent around five years in north London, a significant offer in terms of both wages and role has tempted him away from the club.

Arsenal had, like their title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City, a relatively timid summer transfer window with many criticising the lack of signings made to help the Gunners build on their previous summer spends. Profit and Sustainability regulations played their part and major sales came late.

This was in fact a heavily criticised aspect of Edu’s tenure with the club, a failure to bring in significant funds from sales. Although in his final two summers the departures of Folarin Balogun, Granit Xhaka, Aaron Ramsdale, Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe has generated more than £140million including add-ons.

The Independent reports that Edu is due to see his wages more than treble. Edu has left Arsenal close to what he himself described as the middle of the process that he embarked on prior to Mikel Arteta’s appointment later in 2019.

Speaking in 2023, he told Sky Sports: "I think we were quite clear about all of the steps that we went through. We knew we were going to go through some challenging periods because we had to make some important decisions, sometimes unpopular decisions, which is going to cause some instability.

“Importantly, we internally was quite together in terms of understanding the process. And then, we are where we are, I know there’s lots to do.

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"I think we are in the middle of it [the process], there’s still a lot of things to do, and carry on doing, but also, we are very happy and proud to see where we are at the moment as a club. I think Mikel [Arteta] is, of course, doing a great job.

"I think we as well, in terms of choosing the right players with that right mentality, with the right spirit as well, to be in the squad. We have fantastic staff around us, we always have to mention that because when we’re talking about the team, we need everyone to be really good to make the players perform."

Just over a year on from that and Edu is leaving. More details are of course yet to be revealed regarding any behind-the-scenes occurrences linked with the decision, but it is hard not to feel somewhat critical of the choice to leave now.

Without doubt, Edu has done very good things for Arsenal. While the last summer was seen as a disappointment when ignoring the restrictions, looking across his tenure at the club he has been responsible for the building of a team which has dragged the Gunners back into title relevancy.

He has transformed, along with the help of Arteta and other members of the club hierarchy, the club’s ability to both attract the best talent in the world but also retain it. William Saliba, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Magalhaes, Ben White, Kieran Tierney, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Jorginho all renewed their deals while Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah’s new deals would see them eventually bring in a combined £60million-plus for the club.

This body of work, while overlooked by many solely blinkered to unrealistic transfer desires, will be very difficult to replace and Arteta is sure to be heavily influential in finding such a person. That said, Edu’s time was not perfect and there were deals which raised question marks as recently as the loan move for Raheem Sterling.

Edu has left the famous process half-baked and half-finished. While Arteta, who has signed two deals at the club while working with Edu, appears unshaken and in place for the foreseeable future, the Brazilian will not be here to see the fruits of the labours undertaken so far.

The news itself comes at a time where the mood is low, form is off and results are few and far between. Eight points dropped in the last three games and now this news has surfaced before two tough trips to the San Siro and Stamford Bridge.

Arteta will be tested more than ever before this season. His right-hand man is leaving and his influence is set to grow and with that comes even more scrutiny for poor results and the question will be can he succeed after Edu has jumped ship before reaching the intended vector?