Mikel Arteta has brought remarkable stability to Arsenal in recent years after a difficult start to life as manager, but the Spaniard has been dealt a large backroom blow with the exit of key club official Edu.
The sporting director has helped the Gunners return to the top end of the Premier League table but news of his exit spread on Monday before it was confirmed by the north London giants that the Brazilian had resigned, the former midfielder himself describing it as an “an incredibly hard decision to make”.
While he looks set to take a new role in a group of clubs owned by Evangelos Marinakis, Arsenal have to put a job advert up on LinkedIn and start the process of hiring a new sporting director. So which options are out there?
Here are a few candidates to replace Edu at the Emirates Stadium.
Paul Mitchell has some Tottenham Hotspur connections which always counts against a potential appointment.
The 43-year-old worked effectively with Mauricio Pochettino at Southampton and Spurs and has since had stints at RB Leipzig and Monaco. He was named Newcastle’s sporting director earlier this year, so prizing him away from St James’ Park so soon might prove to be too difficult.
However, having identified talents like Son Heung-min, Sadio Mane and Christopher Nkunku, he has an eye for talent Arsenal could take advantage of.
Julian Ward left his role as Liverpool’s sporting director just one year after replacing Michael Edwards, though he has since returned to the club as a technical director for FSG.
However, the bright lights of another Premier League giant could be tempting if Ward was curious about trying his luck at his old job elsewhere.
This might not be a suggestion totally within the realms of reality, but come on. Who else knows Arsenal better than Arsene Wenger?
The role of ‘sporting director’ is one the legendary Frenchman covered pretty well while taking charge of so many other things at Highbury and the Emirates, with his ability to pick up promising players in the transfer market being key in winning silverware with Arsenal.
Wenger was practically chased out when he left in 2018 and may not fancy a return at 75 years of age, but the former manager has vast amounts of knowledge which the Gunners should be desperate to tap into.
After building a reputation in Spain with Sevilla, Monchi has played a leading role in Unai Emery’s Aston Villa revolution.
Now the club’s president of football operations, the 56-year-old helped uncover a huge pool of talent at Sevilla, with stars like Sergio Ramos, Jesus Navas and Jose Antonio Reyes all rising through the ranks under his watch.
Arsenal would have to make a major play to poach him from a team who see them as Premier League rivals, but perhaps the chance to swap Emery for Arteta would prove a tantalising one for Monchi.
Manchester City are no strangers to losing key personnel. Hell, Arteta was assistant manager to Pep Guardiola before taking the Arsenal job.
Omar Berrada joined Manchester United and, most recently, Txiki Begiristain revealed his decision to step down as their director of football at the end of the season.
Begiristain has a long-standing alliance with Guardiola and it seems unlikely that he would put such a relationship in jeopardy by joining Arsenal. But stranger things have happened in the Premier League.
