Arsenal should sack Edu before replacing Mikel Arteta

Edu and Mikel Arteta are a team, as the club PR has worked so hard to inform us. On paper, the responsibilities of the two seem clear. Arteta works on the training ground, instructing his team and formulating an Arsenal style of play. When he needs certain individuals or types of players, he tells Edu. The Brazilian then identifies targets and completes deals according to the long-term vision of the club. He picks players he thinks fit this clear plan before signing them.

In reality, the lines between these two roles have been blurred. Arteta’s promotion, of sorts, from coach to manager shows a corresponding increase in responsibility, now having a greater hand in transfers according to his own vision. The difficulty comes, however, when Arteta’s ideas and the long-term vision of the club do not match up. Edu has shown that he is unwilling or unable to stamp his authority for the good of the club and it has cost Arsenal.

Last summer, Arteta wanted Willian on a free deal from Chelsea. Edu was informed and eventually signed the player. The signing has been proven to be absolutely dreadful, with Willian accused of being slow, uninspiring and lazy, beyond being plain atrocious.

When off-field details of his sky high wages and the length of the deal surfaced, numerous fans pointed to Arteta. How could he possibly justify the signing of an aging player who will retire at the club when he’s 35 having earned farcical quantities of money? This move is the polar opposite of one needed during a rebuild as extensive as Arsenal’s.

Arsenal should sack Edu before replacing Mikel Arteta as inexperienced technical director can’t be trusted for summer rebuild

More fingers need to be pointed at Edu and his role in the transfer, and those to come. As technical director, the ‘Invincible’ should put his foot down for the good of the club. Willian does not fit the profile of player that will benefit Arsenal in the medium or long-term.

While Arteta may have needed a forward option, it is Edu’s job to find alternatives that the manager can work with while moving in the right direction. Someone who has the expertise to be able to sit someone down, show a touch of authority and state ‘this is a bad idea’. How much blame can be pinned on a man so inexperienced, though?

With the rebuild in the works, transfer strategy has to be flawless and clear. Talk of deals to sign Ryan Bertrand, who will be 32 in August, proves that whatever this rookie team is learning on the job isn’t being absorbed fast enough.

Four roles were made redundant last year as Edu informed of his plans to streamline the scouting department, stating back in September: “I don’t want individual people working in one area or one country”.

With the unusual decision to hire a headhunting company to effectively restaff those roles – which were always going to be replaced just in a smaller capacity – something rarely seen, it’s even clearer how little experience Edu has. Hiring scouts to scout out scouts after making the scouts redundant.

There is also the matter of Edu’s close relationship with agents, most notably, Kia Joorabchian.

It is thought to be this close friendship which resulted in getting the Willian deal over the line, while Joorabchian is also David Luiz’s agent. Shock horror. If this is true, then Edu should be sacked for this offence alone. If his integrity is compromised, he has no place at this club. Arsenal does not need any more Raul Sanllehi’s.

Arsenal needs experienced and astute members at executive levels if this club is to move anywhere close to the right direction.