Arsenal: Edu Gaspar Talks January Signings, Willian & Mikel Arteta

Edu has spoken out in defence of Mikel Arteta at Arsenal.

With criticism flying in from all angles, the Arsenal technical director, Edu Gaspar, has leapt to the defence of Mikel Arteta who has never been closer to the sack than he is now.

A long interview that covered multiple points, unintentionally asked more questions than provided answers.

Any public backing of this stature often spells danger, but the sentiments are clear and understandable: he’s attempting to steady the ship, deflect blame from the manager and provide a clearer path to retribution.

His comments on Willian, however, are baffling.

"“I am really excited and really happy to have a player like Willian because I’m convinced he’ll be the one to impact the team straight away,” he said in August on the official Arsenal website."

Fast forward a few months and his comments on Willian’s form have changed drastically.

https://twitter.com/StatmanDave/status/1338498988165586945

"“What do you expect?” Edu tells the Mirror. “Do you expect it straight away? Boom! Willian can be the best one? He needs a little bit of time, it’s strange as well to say that but you need time to know the players who you are going to play with.”"

An experienced 32-year-old, familiar with the division, the language and who didn’t even need to move city, suddenly needs more time. The deal was heavily led by Kia Joorabchian, Edu’s good friend, which reeks more of a favour being made than logical footballing sense.

The three-year deal and astronomical wages don’t help, either.

A foolish transfer move that grows more ridiculous with each weekly underwhelming performance, Edu’s shift of approach is clearly to quell concerns, but back-tracking on your own statements indicate the initial ones weren’t all that believable in the first place.

Backing Mikel Arteta

Regarding Arteta, the Brazilian has offered his stern backing amid the adversity.

"“Just believe. Internally here, listen, we are doing well. It is unfair to talk about one person, we are a football team, we have to talk about ourselves, talk about “we” and not “him” so that for me is the main message. “The way I see things is very simple. It’s normal and easy to be driven by the results. But for me, the main point is when I see something in which I can see the future, see where we go, the way we’re building things, starting to see it on a daily basis.” Source: Sky Sports"

Believing in the manager is one thing, but having equal faith in the team around him and the players at his disposal is another.

His point about results indicate, if anything, that he expects Arsenal’s current plight to continue. Football is a results business, whether one likes it or not.

Any measure of success is built on what results you accrue. Yet, the state of Arsenal right now is so dire that results, as desperately craved as they are, almost come secondary to having a clear long-term plan ahead.

Said vision for the future involves less than half of the squad at the club at present, with the shining light being the few youngsters and summer additions who supporters can rally behind.

Edu has to back his manager, not least given the club decision to appoint him as ‘manager’ just nine months into his tenure. The jury is still out on whether Arteta is the right man for the club, and indeed all we’d hoped him to be, but that call does now appear premature.

If he had an experienced director of football above him providing insight, the decision wouldn’t have happened.

Potential January Signings

There has been some uproar about Edu’s tempering of expectations for January. No outright declaration of how many players they’re after or what areas they’re looking to strengthen has sparked discussion.

"“Why do people have to expect a magician to go ‘Boom! Come here, Messi’?,” he said. “No, it depends on us. We will try to do something but, listen, we have the responsibility to change it. Don’t wait for someone outside to come inside and be a magician because that’s not going to happen. “If you can sign 20 players, which we’re not going to do, that’s not going to work anyway. So the main thing for me is that we, as a club, have to understand our problem.” Source: The Guardian"

Edu may not be the most experienced technical director in football, but even he knows not to plaster your intentions across the media, divulge your financial woes or name names for risk of shooting yourself in the foot.

This market is frighteningly tough to navigate through, thus limiting yourself further with public announcements of your intentions is beyond foolish.

However, his comments hint greatly towards internal solutions being the immediate focus, even with the winter window little over two weeks away.

Failure to land key targets in January will result in justified criticism of Edu, who equally failed to ship out a wealth of players from the club in the summer.

In terms of what he can do, he’s limited, given the club’s current situation won’t be enticing to any European star on the move, as already witnessed with Dominik Szoboszlai. The ‘different knock’ Raul Sanllehi spoke so highly of is more reminiscent of a broken doorbell at this moment in time.