Head of football Raul Sanllehi said: “We’re very excited that Edu is joining the team. He has great experience and technical football knowledge and most importantly is a true Arsenal man. He understands the club and what we stand for to our millions of fans around the world. “His arrival is the final and very important part of the jigsaw in our development of a new football infrastructure to take us forward. He will be working closely with Unai Emery and the first-team coaches, and will play a relevant role leading our football vision and ensuring we have - and follow - a solid philosophy through all our football activities.”
Head of football Raul Sanllehi said: “We’re very excited that Edu is joining the team. He has great experience and technical football knowledge and most importantly is a true Arsenal man. He understands the club and what we stand for to our millions of fans around the world.
“His arrival is the final and very important part of the jigsaw in our development of a new football infrastructure to take us forward. He will be working closely with Unai Emery and the first-team coaches, and will play a relevant role leading our football vision and ensuring we have - and follow - a solid philosophy through all our football activities.”
Edu said: “Arsenal has always had a special place in my heart and I’m thrilled to be returning to this great club in this new role. We have a strong squad and some very talented young players with fantastic people at every level. I’m looking forward to helping make a difference.”
https://www.arsenal.com/news/edu-named-our-technical-director
Arguably the most important man at the club now. Hopefully he's up to the job.
Welcome Edu. Great to have some of the faces I grew up watching back at the club. Let's hope he hits the ground running and packed a few players into his luggage with him before he flew in.
Bloke looks exactly the same as he did back in 2001 when he first signed.
What will be interesting, with I assume Edu having a huge say over who our next manager will be, is if he favours one of his old buddies for the role, namely the likes of Vieira, Thierry, Sol and most of all, Freddie?
freddie definitely seems to be on the fast track
mdgoonah41 wrote: freddie definitely seems to be on the fast track
Amy Lawrence wrote an article inferring the same thing, not sure if the link has been posted before but it's a decent read: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/jun/21/arsenal-freddie-ljungberg
Welcome Edu our new Teccy D
Klaus wrote: Bloke looks exactly the same as he did back in 2001 when he first signed.
Incredibly true. Has barely aged.
Freddie and Edu. Beautiful.
17 years later one is director of football and the other first team coach.
I hope that Edu has been able to play a small role in this summer’s work. Arseblog reminded me that since last summer we have had a tumultuous technical structure. Last year, Emery arrived to find his business done by Sanllehi/Mislintat. Then in January, Mislintat was fired and we froze when we just needed to get a central defender or attacking midfielder. And now this summer, Sanllehi has been running around without Edu. That’s 3 transfer cycles of instability. Hopefully, we finish strong.
Claudius wrote: I hope that Edu has been able to play a small role in this summer’s work. Arseblog reminded me that since last summer we have had a tumultuous technical structure. Last year, Emery arrived to find his business done by Sanllehi/Mislintat. Then in January, Mislintat was fired and we froze when we just needed to get a central defender or attacking midfielder. And now this summer, Sanllehi has been running around with Edu. That’s 3 transfer cycles of instability. Hopefully, we finish strong.
I hope that Edu has been able to play a small role in this summer’s work. Arseblog reminded me that since last summer we have had a tumultuous technical structure. Last year, Emery arrived to find his business done by Sanllehi/Mislintat. Then in January, Mislintat was fired and we froze when we just needed to get a central defender or attacking midfielder. And now this summer, Sanllehi has been running around with Edu. That’s 3 transfer cycles of instability. Hopefully, we finish strong.
Good points but this shouldn’t be an excuse not to get our house in order. Managers get sacked all the time so there will always be instability, this is common in top clubs - look at Chelsea/Man Utd for example. However, they tend to always have a structure in place when it comes to signings. Willing to give Edu a chance but we can’t wait for him to come good, he has to hit the ground running now. Having said hopefully all of our summer targets have already been identified although I’m not holding my breath.
Edu is clearly meant to be a long term signing, the constant who provides stability and recruits players who fit the club mould regardless of who the manager is. Young, athletic and technical players, with a emphasis, almost obsession with promoting and playing youth to get success.
I've got a good feeling about Edu.
PV4 as head coach next season. you heard it hear first
seriously though, i hope this means more brazilians for us, and not the andre santos variety
Heard a lot of good things about the work he has done at Corinthians. Not transfer related but more of the entire coaching structure between youth and senior.
PV4 is doing averagely well at Nice. Worth keeping an eye on but Arteta would be my pick. Don't think Emery will last past this year
Interesting that Edu played for Emery in the past.
Indeed. I believe that was explicitly stated to be a crucial aspect or one of the preferred requirements for the technical director role- connection with the club and relationship with the coach.
Was about to say the same, he's ageing extremely well.
