Arsenal: Edu and a new beginning 2.0

Arsenal announced the appointment of Edu Gaspar as their new technical director. After a false start last summer, this is a new beginning 2.0 for the club.

As soon as Arsene Wenger submitted his resignation, everything was going to change. That process of change actually started in the years prior to the Arsenal manager’s departure, chief executive Ivan Gazidis manoeuvring individuals into position to lead the new era forward. But the confirmation of the ground-breaking revolution came on the fateful April day.

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The new team was led by Gazidis. It included a new head of recruitment, Sven Mislintat, experienced personnel director Raul Sanllehi, who arrived from Barcelona as the head of relations, and was eventually joined by Unai Emery, who was tellingly unveiled as the head coach and not the manager.

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Within a month of this new team being assembled, reports surfaced that Gazidis wanted out. It took just a summer for him to leave, moving to AC Milan as his first season in the post-Wenger age commenced. Fast forward three months and Mislintat too wanted out, the former Borussia Dortmund scout frustrated with his lack of influence. By the turn of the year, the two most significant figures at the club had left. Arsenal’s new beginning was in tatters.

The club turned into caretaker mode. Vinai Venkatesh and Sanllehi comprised a super-duo, the former focusing on the commercial side of the club and Sanllehi tasked with managing the football side, while Francis Caggigao was promoted into a temporary head of recruitment role until a new structure was more permanently put in place.

This cobbled together scaffolding has clung on for half a season. But this week, a more established and certain foundation was built. After Brazil won the Copa America on Sunday night, Arsenal announced the appointment of Edu Gaspar as the new technical director, essentially replacing Gazidis as the top man at the club.

Edu is a former Arsenal player. He is an Invincible. He enjoyed terrific playing success with the club, winning two league titles and two FA Cups. He was also the director of football at Corinthians upon his retirement and has been the general director of the Brazilian national team since 2016, leading them to their first Copa America title in 12 years this summer. This is the type of individual that is easy to get behind.

Whether Edu is a smart appointment or not, no one knows, and anyone who makes an emphatic statement either way is utterly unfounded. But he is new, he is exciting, he is refreshing, he understands the club and the role, and he is ushering in a new era at the Emirates.

Edu is the new beginning 2.0. After the first crumbled before it ever got underway, Edu must lead the second forward. Let’s hope that they can do precisely that.