Arsenal: Edu and the South American strategy

Edu is set to become the new Arsenal technical director, and with it, we may move into a new era of access to prestigious South American talent.

With the Copa America set to end on the 7th of July, Edu Gaspar will be focusing his attention on his impending move to Arsenal to become our new technical director. The Brazilian, ex-midfielder will return to North London for the first time since his playing days at Highbury from 2001-2005.

Edu is currently serving as Brazil’s General Manager at the Copa America and his connection to Seleção, as well as the Brazilian League dating back to his playing days at Corinthians, should provide Arsenal with a new, alternative transfer strategy.

The Gunners have not purchased a player from South America since Danilo was brought in from Sao Paulo in the summer of 2006.  With Edu coming in as technical director, that all looks set to change.

According to several sources, his first signing will be Gabriel Martinelli, the talented youngster from Ituano who rose through the ranks at Edu’s old squad Corinthians.

Martinelli will provide Emery with a true wide attacking option whose pace and dribbling ability can cause serious problems for defenders. He may struggle to adjust to the physicality and pace of the Premier League at first, but the £6m agreed upon is a bargain for a player of his quality and potential.

The impending signing of Martinelli may signal a shift towards a greater emphasis on South American recruiting under Edu. There is no question that Brazil, Argentina and other South American soccer powers produce some remarkably talented individuals but the vast majority of clubs in these countries do not have the finances to meet the wage demands of these superstars.

Over the course of the last several decades, this trend has led to the elite South American-born superstars moving to prominent European clubs where the higher quality of play as well as the international and financial appeal completely outmatch their counterparts across the Atlantic.

In addition to this, the lack of funding to South American clubs compared to European clubs enables an exploitation of talent, where many Brazilian and Argentine clubs have an abundance of promising prospects but remain somewhat desperate for money.

Take the 2018 summer transfer period as an example of this. Although the deal was agreed upon years prior, Real Madrid completed the signing of Vinicius Jr. from Flamengo once the young phenom turned 18 that summer. The deal was completed for roughly £40m, a staggering price for such a young player but a steal compared to the true value.

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Today, Vinicius would most likely sell in the region of £100m, just a year after his move to the Spanish capital. Had he been the academy product of a Manchester United or a Paris Saint-Germain, it is inevitable that such a club would have the financial power that they would not have any desire to sell except for an outrageously inflated price.

That same summer, Barcelona acquired the services of Arthur Melo from Gremio for £28m. The box-to-box midfielder immediately displayed his brilliant touch and awareness for Barca and will be dictating the tempo of games in La Liga and the Champions League for years to come.

His price is now estimated in the range of £70m and similarly to Flamengo with Vinicius, Gremio had little choice but to take the £28m bid they had received due to their need for financial resources.

With Edu’s connections to Brazil and Arsenal’s lack of funds for their transfer budget, it seems as though recruitment in South America would be extremely beneficial. They will always do business within Europe due to the geographic proximity and the abundance of talent in the continent but competition between European clubs as well as their financial status is likely to drive up the prices.

Clearly, Arsenal’s transfer strategy in past years has not proved very beneficial, especially compared to the effectiveness in the transfer market evidenced by competitors such as Spurs and Liverpool.

When Edu arrives as technical director in July, he will bring with him insight into the world of South American, more specifically Brazilian, soccer and the many young talented prospects that often remain relatively unknown to European clubs until their transfers.

This provides an opportunity for Arsenal, an edge over their competitors. The vast majority of Brazilian, Argentine, Columbian, Uruguayan or Chilean superstars were developed in an academy in their own country. I would argue that these five countries could contribute to roughly 30-40% of the world’s superstars and yet most European clubs invest very few resources into scouting in these areas.

Gabriel Martinelli will in all likelihood, be revealed to Gunners in the coming weeks and hopefully his signing signals a shift towards a new era of recruiting at the club. With Edu as technical director, Arsenal have an in to the world of South American soccer, something that many European clubs lack. The access to these talents is something that Edu brings that should excite Gunners and hopefully something that will change our transfer success for the better.