Arsenal: Edu delay damage already been done

Arsenal have reportedly agreed to a five-year contract with Edu as their new technical director. The delay of the decision is frustrating, but at the point, the damage has already been done. Therefore, making the right choice becomes the key priority.

I do not think enough has been made of the calamitous managerial structures at Arsenal football club.

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In less than two years, Ivan Gazidis hired a whole backroom team to move the club into a new era. The most influential individual at any club in world football then resigned. Within four months, the behind managing the succession plan had also left. And then, just a matter of months later, one of the key cogs of the backroom structure, head of recruitment Sven Mislintat, also left. To add salt to the wounds, any replacements have not looked close to being found, with excellent candidates rejecting them for ‘lesser roles’.

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To call Arsenal a ‘professional’ football club is kind. Very kind. And the ineptitude of this process has culminated in a six-month-long search for a technical director. However, it now seems as though the desperate lurching from candidate to candidate may be about to come to an end. This week, it was reported that former midfielder and Brazil director Edu Gaspar has agreed to a five-year deal with the Gunners as their new technical director.

Edu was linked with the role previously, but it was believed that the club was concerned with delaying the process as Edu wanted to see his role in the Brazil national team set-up to completion at this summer’s Copa America, which they are both hosting and the favourites to win.

At the time, such precautions made sense. It was logical to pursue a more immediate target. There was a summer transfer window looming and plans needed to be put in place long before July 7th, the conclusion of the Copa America. However, the Edu delay damage, if there is to be any, which we will not know until the summer business is complete, has already been done.

There are a few ways to think about that. One is to rue the prior decisions that have led to this calamitous situation; another is to admit that what has happened is not ideal but also realise that this is now an opportunity to make the best decision possible, one that is not rushed because of a looming summer window.

We will never know what Raul Sanllehi, the Kroenkes and Arsenal more generally thought of Edu and whether they ranked him higher than Monchi and Marc Overmars, two targets to reportedly turn the club down, but it is not inconceivable that they preferred Edu from day one but only downgraded him because of the anticipated delay, something that is no longer relevant.

The damage of delaying the decision has already been done. That is unforgivable management from an apparently professional organisation. But it also offers an opportunity to make the right decision. Let’s hope that Edu, then, is precisely that.