EDU LEAVES - ARSENAL SHOULD NOT ANOINT A KING
Waking up to a big Distraction FC moment this morning, as Arsenal are reported to be losing Edu to Nottingham Forest.
The Brazilian is moving because he’ll be going to a club that’ll give him more power, and for that privilege, they’re going to treble his wages to £6m. Quite the number. He’s now a celebrity Sporting Director, and it looks like he’s been given the job as CEO over the Marinakis group of clubs.
It might come as a shock to most people. Arsenal have been putting Edu’s name and face all over the media over the last year. But I think this is just part of the circle of life when it comes to football. My take? If they really wanted to keep him, they’d have kept him.
Edu is leaving a club that has a hands-off ownership group and a very clean approach to how things should run… to go and work for one of the most passionately involved owners in world football, who will be down in the dressing room if he feels the need, will come with its problems. They are not exactly low turnover there.
You have to remember that there were very much two phases to the Edu tenure at Arsenal. We are in the current phase of great signings, a clear strategy, and what looks to be a very clever data-led approach. Then there was the phase when he sat at the table with Don Raul and pulled off some of the worst transfer deals in Arsenal history, mingling deeply with agents so interwoven with the way we did business that it culminated with the signing of Willian in his agent’s living room. He was there for David Luiz, Nico Pepe, Pablo Mari, and Ceballos on loan. Edu was part of the crew that loaded the club up with the favors of super agents and it was absolutely grim.
I bring up the bad because, untethered to a manager like Mikel Arteta, he was very hit and miss. There were some very, very bad decisions made as we bought players against a very awful vision of football. The Sporting Director is supposed to set the vision; there really was no excuse for it outside of being under the thumb of Raul.
Yes, no doubt he made some great deals. He was there for Saliba, Martinelli, and Martin Odegaard. He was a driving force in helping the club get to grips with player deals so we didn’t lose them. He was a great figurehead and brilliant for the Arsenalfication of the club. Edu knew what was missing from our dressing room and was a great partner for Arteta, especially during the very rough times when it would have been easier to fire him.
His best decision, without a doubt, was the hiring of Mikel Arteta. That was him. Raul was pushing all sorts of names his way. The media was being flooded by super-agent recommendations. We really could have fallen off a cliff if he didn’t get that decision right… and I was told at the time he was being teed up as the fall guy if it didn’t go well. He drove to meet Mikel in the dead of night, was blown away by some extremely long conversation, and he was hooked by what he was hearing.
That decision changed the trajectory of the club for the next 10 years. Arteta runs the club these days. He stopped us from signing Emerson Royal. He’s the guy that sells the players on the vision. Arteta is the one who has the sauce that brings the best talents to Arsenal.
So is it going to be a distraction? Not for Arteta.
Will there be a massive fight over who takes over his role? Maybe.
But I don’t think it’ll really fuss Mikel Arteta. I don’t think it’ll rattle the players. It won’t impact the journey that the club is on.
One thing that Arsenal needs to make sure of: This cannot be a David Dein moment. We can’t just allow Edu’s role to move to Arteta. This isn’t the moment to anoint a king, something KSE has done in the past (with Wenger and Raul if we’re honest). We have to find someone internally who can step up to the role, or we have to find someone with enough prestige to step in and move the club forward.
You’ll note that not too many of the top positions in world football are filled by club legends. They go to people who have trained for the role. Txiki Begiristain, Michael Edwards, Piero Ausilio, Hugo Viana, Paul Mitchell, and Dan Ashworth are not legends of the game. They are data-driven experts that sit behind the scenes like footballing CEOs. They’re not celebrities; they don’t look incredible in a crisp white shirt (some do); you don’t wonder what type of cologne they wear… and you never, ever see them on social media cooking on a BBQ.
I’d love to be all dramatic and say this is a massive pivot point in our history, but I’d be lying. Arsenal is a well-run operation; we have smart people on the tools. The club will absorb this exit with grace, and they’ll move on very fast.
Ok, I actually had another piece that was supposed to drop; that’ll land later. x
On The whistle dropped from the weekend. I have another post coming for you later. x