Edu interview: The five-year plan for Arsenal, Saka's contract and 'cleaning' the squad

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.

Edu with Arteta ahead of his appointment in December 2019 (Photo: Anthony Devlin/PA Images via Getty Images)

“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, characteristics. Very technical points: how he wants to play, people inside or external, how we’re going to press. It’s a lot of technical stuff, and he showed me he has a very clear idea of how he wants to play football, which again helps us to make decisions. Now he’s going to make the club’s life easier.

“Then I give to the club a five-year plan. I said to Mikel and to the board: ‘Guys, 2022-23 will be the season we’re going to be much better. We have to be patient… It would be impossible to take everyone out and put everyone in, we need a process to do that. We need good decisions, we need to be brave, we’re going to (face) some difficult moments with players, agents, etc. But that’s the plan’.”

McNicholas: Edu has thrown down the gauntlet to Arteta and his squad by naming this season as one where Arsenal ought to be a force again. But why not? The manager has received significant financial backing and considerable patience.

This is not a new position on Edu’s part. As early as December 2020, The Athletic reported he believed the squad would and could only be truly competitive in time for the 2022-23 campaign.

During the conversation, Edu admitted qualifying for the Champions League last season would have put the club a year ahead of schedule. That makes it clear the aim for 2022-23 is to return to Europe’s elite competition, be that via the top four or winning the Europa League.

Edu’s respect for Arteta was apparent throughout. He was at pains to point out that the squad-building strategy is not purely his own but something shared with the manager, the executive team, and the board — and “everybody feels part of the process”.

Of course, there’s an apparent contradiction in all this. If Arsenal and Edu hatched a plan to refresh and rejuvenate the squad in December 2019, why did they later commit to contracts for veterans like David Luiz and Willian?

Edu on… why the club then signed older players like David Luiz and Willian

The signings of Luiz and Willian seemed to go against what Arsenal were trying to achieve (Photo: Matt McNulty – Manchester City/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)

“We presented to the board our plan. We received a lot of good messages and then during that journey, that two years, David Luiz and Willian were the players which we considered at that moment the players to help a little bit to maintain the short term in the good level.

“Right or wrong, that was the idea. Because I’d say, ‘Willian, free. Wow. If he’s feeling well, he’s going to help us for sure for short periods. David Luiz with experience, knowledge of the Premier League, OK for short periods, maybe for the process he’s going to help us’. Works, doesn’t work. But the idea was there.”

McNicholas: In any process, mistakes will be made. That’s transfers for you: there can be a seemingly sound logic behind a deal, and yet it can still go awry. The merits of Luiz’s time with Arsenal are debatable; the failure of Willian’s brief spell is not.

Clearly, Arsenal and Edu felt they needed a few experienced players to help the bridge the gap in those first couple of years. Perhaps, though, they did not choose the right ones. Hopefully, lessons have been learned.

Edu on… ‘cleaning’ the squad

“Listen, for me, there are three elements which in my role I have to be really prepared to be strong on the message to the players: when the player is 26-plus, big salary and he’s not performing? He’s killing you, that kind of player. Because you don’t have a valuation to sell the player, the player is comfortable — Arsenal, London, beautiful, everything is fantastic — and has a good salary. How do you move this player?

“So, how many players with that kind of characteristics did we have in the past? Eighty per cent of the squad. That’s why I said to them when I made my plan: ‘Guys, it’s not easy to clean the squad straight away because most of the players have a two, three or four-year contract’.”

McNicholas: Edu has overseen huge turnover in the squad since taking over as technical director. Even if you discount his first summer of 2019, in which he was largely acclimatising to the job and working under head of football Raul Sanllehi, 16 players have left the club permanently on his watch. There has been much necessary churn.

Of those players, however, only Emi Martinez, Joe Willock and Alex Iwobi have moved for fees in excess of £15million ($18m). Edu would doubtless point out that those three do not have the unfortunate “three elements” he named above, making their sales easier.

Edu on… struggling to get fees for departing players

“If you imagine, ‘Oh, no problem: this season we’re going to expose the player a little bit more and then we sell them’ — no, be realistic. You don’t want to sell the player. Try to avoid one more year with the problem inside, in the dressing room, expensive, not performing. Clean, take it out. Even, I’m sorry, if you have to pay. To leave is better. Because that guy is sometimes also blocking someone.

“I know it hurts, I know it’s strange when I go to the board and say, ‘Sometimes it’s better to pay a player to leave, than maintain them’. But I consider it an investment. Sometimes people say, ‘It’s expensive’. I say, ‘No, it’s investment’. But someone will pay if you sell? No, guys — if the player is above 26, 27 and not performing, big salary, no chance.

McNicholas: This may be the most controversial statement Edu made during our conversation — and he probably knows it, given it’s a case he’s had to make to the Arsenal board.

Arteta and Edu have tried to instigate cultural change and have effectively decided there may be a financial price to pay for that. They feel they’re nearly there, with a slimmer wage bill and a more motivated squad.

Of course, continuing to allow players to leave for free — or even to pay them to go — is not sustainable. But Edu believes Arsenal are close to breaking that cycle.

“Tell me how many players in the squad we have with those (negative) characteristics today,” he says. “I can tell you, next summer, have a look at the valuation of the players we have, the age of the group that we have, and the salaries that we have today. Now, as part of the plan, we create value in our players today.”

Edu on… the timing of Arteta’s new contract

Edu, director of football operations Richard Garlick and CEO Vinai Venketasham with Arteta as he signs a new contract in May (Photo: Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)

“I was an important part of this process as well. Of course, I can recommend, I can talk, but the decision in the end is for the owners and the board.

“But it was part of the plan as well, because we had discussions where we said, ‘OK, now we’re going to face a transfer window’. And if you want to be a club like Arsenal, and for people to see us as very organised, well-planned, our manager has to be renewed. Because the agents and the players can say, ‘OK, what’s happening there? One year? Six months? A three-year contract?’.

“We say, ‘No, no, no — he’s our coach, he’s our manager, and he’s going to be here with us for a minimum of three years more. That’s how to avoid any doubts when you’re going to sign a player.’

McNicholas: This feels entirely self-explanatory. Arsenal’s primary objective for 2021-22 was to secure European football. Once that was achieved, Arteta’s contract was extended. Would the likes of Gabriel Jesus or Oleksandr Zinchenko have joined the club were the manager not tied down?

Edu on… why Arsenal failed to make the top four

“I felt in some important moments we needed players like the players we are signing today.

“In those kinds of moments — we’re going to play an important game, pressure, we have to win the game to be in the Champions League — you need a squad with (an attitude of) ‘I want to kill someone’. You know?

“I’m not saying we don’t have a (good) squad, but we need a bigger squad with personalities, with some behaviours, that say, ‘I don’t lose that game. I will kill someone but I don’t lose the game’. I think we’ve added some more players with that kind of character.”

McNicholas: So there you have it: Arsenal have added killers.

In all seriousness, there were certainly moments during the run-in last season where that youthful Arsenal team looked a bit callow; almost daunted as the prize grew closer. That’s something that time and experience can alleviate, but signings will help too.

Edu on… if Arsenal have introduced winning mentality

“For sure. Talk to Gabriel (Jesus), talk to Zinchenko, talk to Fabio (Vieira). (Points to head) Here is the win.