Edu says it will be his responsibility to help implement short, mid and long-term plans at Arsenal in his role as Arsenal’s technical director.
The Brazilian, who played for the Gunners between 2001-2005, rejoined the club 11 days ago and has been a very visible presence on the tour of the US as he gets to know the current squad, coaching staff and management.
Pinpointed as ‘the final piece of the puzzle’ by both the football operations team and the club’s owners, Edu knows the pressure is on to win over a frustrated fanbase.
In his first interview with the club, the 41-year-old outlined where his priorities will lie in the coming weeks, months and years ahead.
“There are a lot of things to do, but I will try to explain to you a little bit about almost everything,” he said.
“People always say that the technical director has to look after and be involved in the process of signing players, selling players, keeping players, loaning players.
“That’s an important part of the job of course and I understand that. But for me there are more important things in front of that – we have to look after what we have today. We have to work hard today. We have to look after our squad today.
“The future is the future, and signing players means sometimes the future, and of course I have to be involved in that process, but I also have to take care of today. I explained to the players when I arrived that I’m not the guy who stays inside the office and waits for someone to knock on my door and send a message to me.
“I want to be involved in the process, I want to be on the inside, I want to be with them, I want to be with Unai, I want to be with the staff as well, to try and advise them if they need it, and give some advice for them. Being involved is important and that’s what I really believe from today.
“The link with the academy is very important because people always forget about it, because they talk about signing big names, but we have to take care of the academy as well. That’s one point I have to be linked with.”
It should help that Edu and Unai Emery already have a working relationship. The duo crossed paths in Valencia in 2008 when the Brazilian was still playing.
“For me, it’s a big pleasure to be back working with him again because it doesn’t matter if he is my coach, if I am the technical director right now – in the end we are talking about respect.
“It doesn’t matter which position you are. We had a lot of respect when I was a footballer and we still have a big respect in the position that I am in right now. But he is still the same.
“Working really hard, with a lot of energy. So that’s important for the club and for the players as well.”
At the end of a week when over 100,000 supporters have signed a petition expressing dissatisfaction at the way the club is being run by Stan Kroenke, Edu also attemped to sound a positive note ahead of the new season.
A multiple title winner and ‘Invincible’ during his Highbury days, he’s desperate for the supporters to once again enjoy their relationship with the club.
“I want to see the fans enjoying, as before, the club even more,” he said. “I” know how they live the club, how they love the club and we have to give them something back so they can enjoy again the club.”
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If you’ve got a spare 10 minutes, it’s well worth reading / watching Edu’s full interview – available now on Arsenal.com.
Hope he is able to get some of transfers done quickly – both buying and selling.
Little real movement on either front so far, but it won’t be down to Edu if we don’t do much business. We’re seriously hampered by the overall financial position in buying players, and nobody appears to want the players we need to offload because they’re too well paid (read: overpaid) here and/or they’re just not good enough. It’s an unfortunate “double whammy” and the pressure will certainly mount as we get closer to the closing of the Summer window. Fingers crossed.
Hope that Edu can be our ‘Michael Zorc’.
Michael Zorc sounds like such a cool supervillain name
I’d rather he be our Michael Scott
Indubitaly
Let’s hope he’s as silky off the field as he was on it. ?
And that he has a cunning plan to sign Everton Soares …
It’s good to see him openly acknowledging that the fans don’t “enjoy” the club any more and that that has to change. Even if it’s just PR BS, at least he’s admitting there’s a serious problem.
How is someone admitting something that is a fact “PR BS”? (scratching head and mumbling expletives under my breath)
Edu is a class act and seems to be very active already. I’m so glad we got him instead of Monchi, I think he’s going to be amazing.
I like Edu, and I am always glad to see ex Alrsenal players back at the club. What U want to know is how did he qualify for this job, and how much experiance he has to do this? Clubs tend to go for ex players and hope something big happen, but experiance is key. Chelsea and Man Utd will learn that the hard way this season.
Nine years experience as a Technical Director, he’s worked hard, he’s been successful. He’s no entitled chancer, he’s qualified for the job and has the links to the club. I think we’re very lucky to have him.
Of the National team(s).
Very different.
Although he had some experience with Corinthians which counts.
“The future is the future”
He’ll fit right in.
The problem is we should really be investing in “THE RIGHT NOW”. We are in a grave and critical period in danger of slipping further with a number of hungry clubs (Everton, Leicester, Wolves, Watford) chasing and adding quality. We would be remiss to believe we are entitled to top 6….forget top4. And had we more ambition, we would have brought in a Technical Director to replace BOTH Raul and Mslintat in someone of the calibre of Luis Campos at mighty LilleOSC. That would be truly money well spent on the part of the ownership. Alas, we tend to be… Read more »
All the best, Edu. I think you’ll need it given the ownership you will have to deal with.
Please help me remind Kosh that he is trying to destroy his legacy at the club. Look at Edu, he spent just 4 years as a player and even when he was maligned at the end of his time at Arsenal, he left on a good note to Valencia and here he is back at the club with goodwill in tact. The likes of Van person and fabregas can’t say the same and I am afraid Kosh too.
Fabregas left on fine terms. I was gutted when he left and wish he would have stayed, but he didn’t tarnish his Arsenal reputation with me. It was a difficult personal decision.
Unfair comparison, as those players agitated for moves when they had much more to give us- koscielny is at the end of a career. Something also tells me that promises were made to the player and the disarray at the board level, combined with the lack of funds for replacements, means that agreement isn’t being honored.
Koscielny is doing us a great favour. What many people cannot understand is the issues beneath the surface. You have to read between the lines. The club doesn’t want to spend enough and will buy a winger (say 30m+) then its a question of either sinking another 30m into a Cback we really need or maybe skimp on the Cback and add a Lback with the money. Instead they will hang on to Koscielny with wear and tear issues for one more season, hope Holding and Sokratis can strike a partnership and add Saliba for the future (when we already… Read more »
Kos is not doing it for any of those reasons you knob. He wants out. He wanted out when Arsene left. He doesn’t give a shit about forcing our hand to buy a player to replace him. What a dumb comment.
Good to get involved and pinpointing the academy. As soon as you’re back at Conley, have a sit down with Bielik and integrate him into the squad please.
The whole club needs better and more coherent direction. I have a feeling of course this is dictated by Raul with curbs imposed by the family. Case in point the addition of Tierney. Whilst a decent signing for us if it happens, I don’t see it as priority. Instead what it looks like is we are unable to find quality enough to add at Cback (plus we have way too many surplus Cbacks as is) so they’ve decided we should keep Koscielny as back up, buy a young Cback (another one to Mavropanos and Bielik) on installments and spend the… Read more »
If these guys can’t find a better cb than the walking fuck up mustafi, they need to be shown the door and a new pair of spectacles. There are 19 other teams in the prem alone with AT LEAST one better cb than mustafi. Buy one of them.
“THERE ARE A LOT OF THINGS TO DO” – that could be the understatement of (at least) the year. He’s right, of course, and let’s all hope he – and the other backroom team members – can turn things around. It won’t/can’t be done overnight though. We are where we are because of problems that started several years ago, under the previous management team. The relative decline that Arsenal have clearly gone though – and are still going through in some respects – will take several seasons of hard work to reverse.
It can get worse if we do not buy right this summer.
A lot hinges on if we are going to spend for a proper solution at Cback or band aid everything again, distract with a good wide player signing and an unnecessary Lback signing instead.
I always thought he was a class act when he was a player. I remember his final game as a gunner we beat Everton 7:0 (aaaah those were the days) and the rest of the teammates let him take a penalty so he could leave with a goal …
Still don’t understand how we function. Seems too many layers. Hopefully Edu will have our interest at heart being an ex player and can function as an intermediary between Raul and Unai. I think that might be the issue. We don’t entirely have a continental system and our gaffer probably carries a bit more clout and say in matters beyond the pitch. May have been an issue with Mslintat going his own way and not entirely considering the needs of Wenger and squad, latter Unai. Raul also prob wants better control on the Tech Director. But layers also means there… Read more »
It took a Brazilian 1 week to say what we want to hear and understand, emery please learn from him, your big performances and energy waffle win or lose is more than tedious for us now, you have been in England for a year now and as a top professional who earns a lot of money its time to communicate with us fans this season as with most of your post match interviews I haven’t a Scooby what you have been talking about..
Good to hear he is ensuring receuitments is based on solid knowledge of what we already got in the squad and cooking in youth ranks.