Inside Edu's departure as Arsenal prepare January transfer and replacement plans

There is something strange about how abruptly reigns at football clubs tend to end. On Saturday, Edu was Arsenal’s sporting director, watching on as the squad he helped build lost 1-0 to Newcastle. By Monday he had resigned from his post and less than 24 hours later he had said his goodbyes.

Of course, such a drastic decision is not just made within the course of two days. This had been coming for a while.

After the summer transfer window Edu had held a meeting with managing director Richard Garlick. The Brazilian was open about his future and disclosed that he had been approached by other clubs. The sense was that he was keen to take more of a step into the upstairs side of running a football club than dealing with the day-to-day of things like player scouting.

The meeting ended on good terms and this is the mood that is understood to have prevailed as Edu confirmed he would be leaving the club on Monday. There is an acceptance that the Brazilian had received the opportunity to fulfil his expressed desires with Evangelos Marinakis’ multi-club system and there is no animosity that he chose to accept it. Edu remains a popular figure within the club and his close relationship with Mikel Arteta is not thought to have been affected.

“I think we both had this special chemistry working together, we really both enjoyed our roles and working together,” Arteta said when asked about Edu’s departure in Milan on Tuesday evening. “I'm very blessed that he's been part of my life in such a beautiful place that I am right now, managing this incredible club and he's been a massive part of that.

“He's had an amazing opportunity now to do something else in a different role and he believes that it's the right professional move for him. “We have to respect that and from the bottom of my heart I think everybody really feels that we want the best for him and that's it.”

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Edu’s farewell speech to players and staff took place on Tuesday morning in the dressing room at London Colney and is understood to have been an emotional affair. The sentimentality ends there though.

Edu is out of the WhatsApp groups that discuss transfers, player fitness and the like. He will no longer be at games or the training ground as he serves a six-month period of gardening leave. Arsenal are already focused on finding his replacement.

The club will stick with the sporting director model rather than returning to the technical director set up that was in place when Edu returned to north London in 2019. This means that the Brazilian’s successor will oversee the women’s and academy teams as part of their role. Beyond that the Gunners remain open in their search.

There has been an Arsenal-DNA thread that has run through recent appointments in key positions such as Edu, Arteta and Per Mertesacker as academy director. The club are not thought to be wedded to this approach though. The process will be led by Garlick and executive vice-chair Tim Lewis, with input from Arteta. A list of job requirements is being drawn up and an ability to work well with Arteta is likely to be high on it. A recruitment company will be used to filter through initial candidates.

Arsenal are not putting too much time-pressure on appointing a successor. They feel confident that they can shoulder the burden of Edu’s absence in the meantime.

James King will officially begin his job in Garlick’s old position as head of football operations next week. This will give Garlick the space to shoulder many of the corporate responsibilities of Edu’s role.

On the football side of things, Edu’s former number two Jason Ayto will step up in the interim to lead on transfer matters. Ayto has been with the club for 10 years and played a key role in overhauling the club’s scouting set up in 2020. Plans are already in place for the January window where the Gunners expect to be reactive rather than proactive.

Claire Wheatley meanwhile is leading the search for a replacement for Jonas Eidevall as women's manager. This is still in its early stages, and again, there is not thought to be any rush due to the strength Renee Slegers as interim boss.

The Gunners’ executives will fly to the US next week to meet with owners Stan and Josh Kroenke. This is an annual meeting that takes place every November international break to discuss plans for the upcoming summer. Discussions will undoubtedly include a succession plan for Edu.

Despite turbulent times on and off the pitch right now, internal sentiments were perhaps best described by Arteta.

“Across the club, the excitement, the passion, the understanding of where we want to take this journey remains intact. We move on. We say thank you and we have to move on because that's the reality of our industry.”

There is sadness but not despair at Edu’s departure. The Brazilian was influential, but not irreplaceable.