The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has issued a statement confirming that Edu, the general co-ordinator of the national team, has received an offer from an English club.
Arsenal want Edu, who spent four years at Highbury, to become the club’s Technical Director and it was widely reported yesterday that he will take up the role when this summer’s Copa America ends.
The CBF statement reads: “Co-ordinator Edu Gaspar has a current contract with the CBF until the end of the Qatar World Cup in 2022.
“Edu Gaspar informed the CBF that he received an offer from an English club but explained at the moment that he is solely focused on Brazil’s matches at the Copa America.
“The CBF, therefore, denies any speculations around names for the position of co-ordinator. We’re clear about the qualities required for this position which brings together an administrative capacity and experience on the field.”
This sounds like a done deal to us. After the failed quest for Monchi, at least it’s one problem solved, although quite where we’ll be in the transfer market once Edu formally takes on his new role remains to be seen.
We look forward to Edu’s return. The man has a big job on his hands.
Where our transfer business will be by the time he arrives would take an EDUcated guess.
It can also be dEDUced from where we are before he arrives.
I still cant shake the feeling that this is a bad idea. As much as its great to have Edu back at the club, I am not sure its the right appointment. I think there are far better candidates out there who we should be looking at. Whether or not Edu is any good. We’ve still given a guy with 4 years experience a huge job. A job that’s so difficult it was probably the reason why Monchi looked at it, and then opted to go back to Seville instead. I truly hope I am wrong, and he comes in… Read more »
Very much a worry, he’s also not going to have much knowledge of the current European setup
How do you know?
How do you know that?
What i expect is for Edu to do what his predecessor did and pull out his little book of contacts and get us the finest talents he knows about. I expect a very good brazilian player and a ”next big thing” attacking talent to be coming in with Edu’s appointment in the summer. We will definitely make a few internal promotions to the squad and i hope 4 signings with 2 of those being big ones.
I think you are wrong who is better candidate out there despite Edu?
Edu was an intelligent player and the qualification needed the most to be DoT is just that, he should be able to bring in players who have an understanding of the game like Santi Carzola
That can also be dEDUced from what we do before he arrives.
Hmm, we need some dEDUplication around here.
I think we need to have two or three like him. Mislintat was good on German league players, Wenger was good on French players (in his early days at least), Edu probably good on Brazilians.
We need a few like him to get great knowledge of up and coming players in lots of areas of the world.
Two or three directors of football? I’m fairly sure Edu will be able to target players who aren’t Brazilian…
He will have scouts who specialize in each of those regions. The DoF would coordinate and manage the whole team. Sven was a great chief scout who wanted to be DoF, Edu is a great DoF who’s scouting credentials are TBD
Give me a big budget and I will be good on players from everywhere in the world. Neymar, very easy. He would play in a sunday league if you double his salary.
I’m fine with ex-Gunners returning to club in one way or the other, but I don’t know what to expect of him. I mean, is he not supposed to scout for talent? But his role with the Brazil national team seems to be more of an administrative nature. I’m not sure what he did previously with Corinthians, so excuse my half knowledge. Also, I think he was similar in his playing days for Arsenal, came and went, did his job well (and became an Invincible), but I never felt a ‘connection’ with him as opposed to someone like Vieira, Arteta… Read more »
Agree mate.
I just don’t understand what he will bring to Arsenal.
His role at Brazil national team is not really similar to his future role at Arsenal.
And i believe he has no record of finding young talent at cheap price.
Perhaps, he is the only guy who is willing to work under Kroenke?
A Blog’s special on his post playing days background would be nice…
As for the ‘came & went’ part, he was a fantastic player for us who could always be counted on when Vieira or others couldn’t play. A true, worthy Invincible. It was testament to his character that he wanted to challenge himself by playing more & he went to a really good Valencia side & was really unlucky with an early injury which ruined the move. I’m sure he still has that drive, I just hope he’s given a fair chance to do his job.
He’s supposed to bring everything together, define our playing style, regardless of manager (hence why we changed the way the club is managed after Arsene). It will be his job to give Arsenal their identity back.
This idea, “give Arsenal their identity back.” is a non-starter. Which Arsenal is that, pray tell? The dour, defensive, 1-0 to the Arsenal identity? The early Arsene Wenger invincible years identity? The middle Arsene Wenger dealing with stadium debt years identity? The late Arsene Wenger dealing with underinvestment and clear decline years identity? Is there a carbon copy of Henry, Pirse, Vieira, Seaman, Lundjberg, et al. waiting in the wings, its just a matter of “splashing the cash”? (no, there’s not.) You see, that’s absolute rubbish. No personal offence meant here, so please don’t take it that way; but this… Read more »
I am no Liverpool too but still they need to be look at a model to us. 1.Gini Wijnaldum- Relegated with Newcastle; Bought through release clause in £14.5 million. 2. Andy Robertson- Relegated with Hull City; Bought through release clause in £8 million. 3. Joel Matip- Free transfer from Shalkhe04. 4. Xerdan Shaqiri- Relegated with Stoke City; Bought through release clause in £12 million. 5. Divock Origi- £10 million acquisition from Lille. 6. James Milner- Free transfer from Manchester City 7. Trent Alexander Arnold- Academy product. Free of cost. Those mention above did a marvellous job last night against Barcelona.… Read more »
Michael Edwards at Liverpool now looks a real genius but the Ex Spurs man along with (annoying) Klopp took a while to craft Liverpuddle to where they are now. With the sort of high intensity game Klopp prefers, the squad was too thin before and got knackered before season’s end. They have spent heavy but also brought in numbers of harder working players. Some good deals too like Shaqiri. Edwards had spent time with old Harry at Spurts before Commoli headhunted him to takeover. So there is the pre-requisite experience within the league. Not sure if Edu will bring the… Read more »
His main job is to coordinate the scouting team and work with Emery to address where we need to improve and Edu spend most of the time on road and Emery on the training pitch unlike Wenger’s era he tried to do both and in additional contract negotiations and we paid a price for that big time. And running a club like Arsenal is a team effort
Klopp is the main factor in these players improving. Even Guardiola achieved nothing with the very good team he had in his first year at City. Liverpool had players like this for years and years and were terrible… until Klopp came along.
No-one can copy Liverpool’s model – because the model is Klopp.
The point is Edwards is signing players around Klopp’s philosophy.
That’s the job of technical director.
And he has done a marvellous job.
That’s why Liverpool are on the verge of winning UCL.
We on the other hand, have many problems of recruitment.
Also our budget is riddiculus for any TD to handle at the moment.
Signing one or two players won’t help us much. This whole team needs a surgery.
Before he joined Selecao he was Corinthians DoT if you didn’t know and I hope he brings with him at least 4 players from Brazil one CB, DF, Playmaker and forward rest will complement from Europe
Work Permit bro.
He is not supposed to scout, that’s the job of the scouts.
Scouts only recommend. They watch a wide range of players.
He will make the deal happen which is far more critical and difficult.
It involves massive finesse and timing plus relations.
ALL teams have scouts.
They don’t make the deal happen.
Arseblog, I feel there’s benefit in an article outlining the key roles in a football club and what the holder of each of those roles does / delivers…
Wenger couldn’t define the roles either
Wenger was superb at identifying and buying talent and got very good prices.
We grew as a club and were able to finance the stadium bc in general he bought low and sold high.
Whether he bought enough or curbed his demons in panny pinching on his defense is another issue.
BUT he bought better than Mslintat (Zorc at Dortmund is the real genius BTW)
And he was great as converting players too to new roles – Henry, Kolo, Santi , Arteta to name the most significant.
We missed him just as much as Viera when he left
For the next Arsecast please discuss what can possibly be done to get the Kroenke’s out of this club.
Legally speaking?
No
I mean I get the sentiment but it would be a great waste of Andrew’s time wouldn’t it? Better time spent elsewhere, i.e. analysis of the squad, his Patreon podcasts.
I have a plan, write to your Member of Parliament or congressman. Let him/her know that by the statutes of the Geneva Convention, no human being should go through the torture the Kroenkes have and will inflict on us as Arsenal fans.
Is this the same plan that Liverpool fans used to get rid of Tom Hicks in the past?
Hicks’s sports investment company went bankrupt. He over-borrowed. If the economic downturn in the late 00’s didn’t happen, he would still own half of Liverpool.
With Gazidis gone, we really lack leadership further up.
It’s too early just give him this coming summer and see before we make next move.
I don’t get all the thumbs down for this posting! Richard is right – it is imperative for the very future of our club that we discuss ways of getting rid of this fucking family from the boardroom. It seems pointless talking about key roles within the club’s structure while ignoring the way the club is being run by Kroenke and his sycophants.
I guess because getting rid of Kroenke is really difficult.
Unless, all the fans living in London can somehow find a way to stick together and sue him like Liverpool fans did to Tom Hicks.
Nowadays, the role of sporting director is very important, arguably as much as the head coach. We talk a lot about “Liverpool revolution” these days and yeah they have a good sporting director. Selling Coutinho and buy Mane, Salah, Virgil. Klopp once said he didn’t want Salah at first but Michael Edwards persuaded him. But why Edu? I know Edu is a former Gunner but what will he bring to Arsenal? He has no record of finding young talent and selling them at high price. Perhaps, being a Spaniard or able to speak Spanish is a crucial criteria? I was… Read more »
Don’t know if he speaks Spanish or not but he’s Brazilian. The national language is Portuguese
Campos would have been perfect in absence of Monchi.
Speaks Spanish, worked in France, Emery very familiar with the year he denied him the title with the superb Monaco side assembled.
Great comment.
Luis Campos for sure.
That would be for an ambitious club (like Lille)…I guess not us.
…I’m sure we can’t afford him.
Maybe we need to take him ‘on loan’.
Currently, Edu is coordinating all the Brazilian teams from senior all way to the under 17,18,20, etc so that’s the great skills you need from him and spanish and Portuguese language they are pretty similar.
I like this move. I want people with Arsenal ties in all key management positions. From top to bottom, we should have people who know the values of the club to make key decisions.
I get the sentiment but I fail to see he has the experience to do the scale of the job we need. Not only that but he’s hardly a club legend and nobody has any real attachment to him.
Having people “with Arsenal ties” does not guarantee success. Neither is it the case that only those people will appreciate the values of the club.
I am afraid that something called “Arsenal ties” or “Arsenal DNA” is just another excuse/lie to fans from KSE to get the cheapest option.
Nobody can define the meaning of this.
If Kroenke really wants to push Arsenal forward, he should have found the best name for this role.
If the guy isn’t up to the job, has no track record of success in the job, I don’t give a flying fook if there are Arsenal ties or not. Its a total recipe for disaster and any competent manager knows that.
Director of Football for Corinthians from 2011. Perhaps you’ll recall they won the Libertadores in 2012 and beat Chelsea in the World Club Cup final. He did such a good job that Tite brought him along to the Brazil national side.
He’s intelligent, qualified and also a former Gunner!
Absolutely, this DNA bogus argument is a cover up for Raul to assert control (prob why there was a break down in relation with Mslintat…aside form the fact Mslintat wasn’t particularly good) The executives currently Venkatasham and company have less clout and exhibit less visible leadership than Gazidis. Gazidis at very least somewhat put his neck on the line by giving some direction in public. AND he got us Unai. BUT the current crop I’m not sure enjoy as much power behind the scenes and may demure to Raul. This would be a mistake. We will have to wait and… Read more »
you made a great point here most people struggle to understand Edu
Does it mean we should buy back Bendtner, Gevinho, Denilson and etc since they should be cheap?
Emery stays up all night fighting against heavy sleepy eyeballs just to work on tactics against oppositions…only for xhaka and mustafi to show up on matchday and give painful and embarrassing performances…I’m sure that hurts Emery alot…he would surely act in the summer..I’m very sure of that.. Emery has seen and taken enough from this shit players
If it was only Granit and Mustafi it would be easy. BUT (whisper) it’s not. Because without Mustafi we were still fuck ups. Witness Wolves with much vaunted Sokratis and Koscielny. PLUS Torreira isn’t any better. Against BHA, Soton and West Ham (not to mention Liverpool) on either side of Xmas, we shed 11 points. Torreira (popular to mythical proportions beyond his 5’5 frame) conspired to GIVEAWAY the ball in critical area or have the ball fleeced off of him 5 or 6 times. 4 of those led DIRECTLY to goals against us. Watch those matches again before you throw… Read more »
Chiza best comment thus far as these two tools have undermined Emery big time!!!
For anyone wondering what a Sporting/Technical Director’s role is, just imagine what Wenger used to do for us, but without the actual football coaching bit. And with that in mind, I’m just not sure what makes Edu so great for the role. I hope Raul communicates it to us please. I know we all hate Gazidis, but at least the man TRIED to have a vision and be innovative. He was innovative in changing our performance and medical services, our academy and scouting, and he clearly had a vision with Analytics in mind and got in Sven with the long-term… Read more »
I liked the bit where you said innovation.
Absolutely agree with you.
Saliently put.
This looks like control from Raul because those above him don’t have the balls to take better control.
Gazidis was much maligned and under appreciated.
Sure he was a suit and he would never really stick his neck out but he was very public in his policies and he tried to find us players not to mention brought in Unai.
I’m not sure we have the leadership now. It appears the current Executives do not have the clout or gravitas to significantly control things.
The deal isn’t done until the contract is signed Edu is in London.
According to Nicolò Schira, it’s a done deal!
Edu has already been working with Sanllehi to find a new box to box player.
I’m starting to think that, Arsene Wenger was in charge of everything at Arsenal. And it’s like the whole staff can’t do right decisions.
Wenger was good in market.
If anything he flattered to deceive because he was so good.
It covered up his flaws with his tactics and his non interventionist philosophical position.
That’s exactly right!
I hope the compensation cost isn’t deducted from the summer budget
Slightly underwhelming if he’s the front candidate. Seems lacking in experience on the european side of things. BUT looks like the executives are not in full coontrol and allowing Sanheli too much say. Raul probably wants someone he can control which is not necessarily good for the club. Considering the way the Ramsey/Ozil contracts have been negotiated plus the Panic Loan ear he and Mslintat have ushered in with poor purchases on Lichsteiner and Mhkitaryan (Wage bill over load), not impressed. We need to be spending the money in this key area IMO. There are MUCH better technical directors/DoF available… Read more »
Who cares? I am angry and frustrated.
Don’t worry…there is always a chance you can be even MORE angry and frustrated next season. This is the Arsenal.
Spurs just won it to take them to CL finals. My least favorite teams in the finals and both stand to make huge windfalls regardless of outcome. Which means added to City, Chelsea, United (Spurs will prob sell Erickson for a pot of money), we are looking at an EXTREMELY competitive summer. Add to that if we should fail to win the europa, we will find our pocket money cut down further by Kroenke. Whoever is in charge of transfer needs to be real savvy to work a restricted budget, ferreting out value on top players against a heated market.… Read more »