“It’s important people understand,” says Edu, “because if you don’t understand, it’s difficult to support. Or even difficult to judge.”
Edu is here to explain. In the relaxed setting of Arsenal’s Orlando hotel, Arsenal’s technical director talks through his strategy for the club.
Communication is a big part of Edu’s job. Much of his work involves building and managing relationships with players and agents — and he has an easy manner that makes him highly personable.
But today the job is different: it is about telling us where Arsenal have been, where they are now, and where they intend to go.
His intention is simple: clarity. “We have a strategy, we have ideas, we have a plan,” he says. “You like or don’t like. That’s fine. I accept that. But I say a lot: people have to understand what you’re going to do. People have to really get the idea and then let’s judge it.”
Over the course of the conversation, Edu discussed everything from the inception of the current strategy to the decision to give Mikel Arteta a new contract and the crucial thing he said to Gabriel Jesus and his family to persuade him to join Arsenal.
Here, The Athletic’s James McNicholas explains what was discussed, and what it tells us about Arsenal’s possible trajectory.
Edu on… when the club began implementing the current strategy
“With all due respect, the plan started really when we decided to change Unai Emery (in November 2019). That was my first planning — to go to the board, explain to them the reason we want to change, the reason we want to go a different direction.
“The idea behind it was to have a coach with a very clear idea. A very clear plan: very clear structure, how he wants to play. And from that we’re going to build something together.
“If you have a coach and it’s difficult to read how he plays — in terms of system, characteristics, etc — it makes our life super complicated. And then we can make a lot of mistakes on recruitment because we don’t really understand and it’s not easy to find the right player for the right system for the right coach.
“We had to be really brave to make the decision in the middle of the season because internal people said to me: ‘Wow, we never did that before’. I said, ‘No problem, in Brazil we do that a lot. Don’t worry!’
“Of course, I’m joking but I said: ‘No, no: we will be fine. But if you have already diagnosed it’s not our plan, change. As soon as possible. Or you’re going to postpone, postpone, postpone’. In football sometimes the decision has to be (made) quickly. It hurts, it’s challenging, but it has to be done.”
James McNicholas: It makes sense that Edu recognises the termination of Emery’s contract as the true starting point for his Arsenal tenure. After all, he wasn’t around when Emery was appointed in May 2018. At that time, Arsenal were still considering the appointment of Emery’s long-time collaborator, Monchi, for the technical director role.
Although Edu was too courteous to say this explicitly, the inference appeared to be Emery’s Arsenal were a muddled team with a confusing identity — and certainly, that was the perception of most onlookers.
Edu made a quip about Brazilian football’s willingness to dispense with managers quickly but there was a serious point underlying it: he considered the need for change fairly urgent. It was uncharacteristic for Arsenal, but necessary.
They were, by then, a club lacking direction. The appointment of Arteta, and Edu’s increasing influence in implementing a squad-building strategy, changed that.
Edu on… choosing Mikel Arteta
“When I met Mikel, I went to his house, we had a great relationship straight away: conversation, ideas, etc.
“Then I see: this guy has a plan — a football plan… the style, players,…
Read More: Edu on his Arsenal plan, Saka’s contract and ‘cleaning’ the squad