The reports that Tomas Rosicky is being considered as one of the leading candidates to replace Edu as Arsenal’s sporting director were met with mixed responses. Some saw it as a nostalgic throwback similar to the Brazilian who remains on gardening leave before his official exit.

However, others have been sceptical and some even critical of the potential pick, labelling him as a 'yes man' simply because - wait for it - he played with the current manager and head of the academy. While having that opinion is not perhaps surprising, it is somewhat shallow to hold it so strongly without having much knowledge at all about what Rosicky has done in his career to even hear his name in the conversation.

With that said, football.london looks at three key reasons why Rosicky's name is in the fold. From his obvious links to the club to looking deeper at what he has actually done.

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The Arsenal connection

It is important to Arsenal that the individual who comes into the club has an understanding of the values and culture of the club. Rosicky spent around 10 years at the club and existed across different eras from the end of Thierry Henry's reign to Robin van Persie's rise and exit and the FA Cup victory in 2014 too.

He won that competition, coming off the bench in the final to join now manager Mikel Arteta on the field. The pair were teammates and are familiar of course with one another and while this relationship was only on a playing level then, having that familiarity can be very beneficial in those working environments too.

Arteta and Edu had a very strong partnership even though the Brazilian has since left. They worked to build a squad which has gone from strength to strength and that could be achieved again with a similar partnership.

He gets what he wants

Rosicky inherited a very similar scenario to what Edu did with Arsenal. An ageing squad with underperforming players on big wages and he worked extremely hard to change that.

Soon into his tenure at the club he even handed in his resignation, which was rejected; afterwards, he took much more control of proceedings as a result. It shows he is not afraid to make tough choices and wants ownership of his work at that level.

Some might think that Edu's exit shows that perhaps is not possible at Arsenal, but after making such a big call like that in Prague, why would he then take on a role at another club where his abilities showcased in such a position cannot be utilised?

Therefore, this claim he would be something of a 'yes man' and bend to the will of those around him and not see his own vision realised just does not make sense based on what we know. It is possible to have working relationships, even one where a friendship can exist (that's assuming it does) and challenge, argue and even disagree before coming to an end goal. Some shouldn't be so dismissive of this.

Scaling up

Some might be concerned that his current role is at a club which of course does not operate at the same level as Arsenal. Well, for starters he helped get Sparta Prague back into the Champions League main phase for the first time in 19 years.

He helped build a squad and install a head coach which won the title for the first time in nine years before then seeing them win it the season after. He has a focus on youth talent and bringing that through, selling players well like Adam Hlozek and most of all he has shown the capacity for adaption and learning in intense situations with great speed which anyone taking on a role at a bigger club would need.