Slegers pays tribute to Edu but insists ‘our structure is very strong’

Arsenal Women interim Head Coach Renee Slegers has paid tribute to departing Sporting Director Edu, whose involvement with the women’s team increased following his promotion to Sporting Director last year.

The Gunners are currently recruiting a new Head Coach following the departure of Jonas Eidevall last month. Our understanding remains that New York City FC Head Coach Nick Cushing remains a target and that Edu and Cushing have a professional relationship. Our understanding also remains that no agreement is in place at this stage.

Slegers says Edu will be missed but the club’s structures are strong enough to withstand his departure. ‘He has meant a lot to the women’s team, a lot for the club and we are sorry he is leaving. But he got a really good opportunity so we wish him all the best.

‘But the structure we have in place here is very strong, it is not dependent on one person. The Arsenal build is much better than that so we feel comfortable with the structure that we have.’

Slegers says that she doesn’t anticipate his departure will impact the appointment process for the new coach, ‘There is a process in place, there is a technical committee working on this process and it is not affected by this. There is a good process in place.’

Slegers was asked whether she would like to stay on the coaching staff when the new coach arrives and answered, ‘That is my thinking at the moment, I enjoy being part of the club and working with these players and I enjoyed the role that I had before I had to step in to take this role temporarily. I hope so, yeah!’

Meanwhile, Slegers reflected on Arsenal’s improved attacking performance against Manchester United and said that Alessia Russo’s display, in which she managed eight shots and scored against her former club, was a symptom of a wider attacking improvement.

‘We are looking at the details, our passes need to mean something because we want to go towards the goal. Every pass needs to have a message or a meaning. A lot of things we did really well against United, performance wise, attacking wise, we find good spaces we have good movement and we link up well together.

‘We had more and better entries into the box, so we are closer. We need to score those goals but there were a lot of positives performance wise against United. The whole team was functioning well in every phase of the game and that helps the individuals as well, as a team we were doing well and you get the best out of each other that way and that showed with Alessia.

‘But Alessia works really hard, she is a great player. We have seen it in training with all the quality she has. But if the group works well then each individual will be able to flourish as well.’