Mikel Arteta’s ‘stability’ is strained with strange timing in Edu exit

Departure of sporting director could not have come at a worse time for manager with Arsenal well off the pace in Premier League title race

The obvious question about Edu’s decision to leave Arsenal is not just why, but what does it mean for Mikel Arteta?
After all, when the Arsenal manager signed his new deal in September there was a telling quote to accompany it on the club’s website.
“Mikel’s new contract gives us stability and clear direction as we aim for new heights,” it read. The quote came from Edu. But now the Arsenal sporting director is going. And what does that mean for “stability” and reaching “new heights”?
For Edu that personal search will take place elsewhere, quite possibly heading to the City Ground and Nottingham Forest to lead owner Evangelos Marinikas’ multi-club operation that includes Olympiacos and Rio Ave.
Circumstances change. But that quote was published fewer than eight weeks ago. So the obvious conclusion is something has happened in the last two months to make Edu want to leave Arsenal now and that cannot equate to stability for the club.
The argument will be that Arteta is the most important employee and that is reflected in the news, as Telegraph Sport has reported, that he will have a major say in who replaces Edu. That shows how highly Arsenal rate Arteta and are aware of the powerbase he has established. It means they have to involve him.
Edu worked extremely closely with Arteta and the 46-year-old Brazilian was a key ally of the manager and a confidante during the club’s impressive squad rebuild which has transitioned them from depending on under-performing and over-paid older players such as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mesut Özil to hungry young talents headed by Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka.
Arteta has undoubtedly driven that with his energy and vision but he was not alone and he certainly could not have executed the plan so effectively without Edu. They were a good combination with Edu the more urbane, warmer figure and Arteta providing the hard-edge and intensity. That is ending and it does cause uncertainty. Not least for Arteta.
Arsenal will argue that the managing director Richard Garlick and the increasingly influential executive vice-chair Tim Lewis – the rest of the football leadership team – will continue to provide the stability.
But the timing of Edu’s decision – as well as that decision itself – is damaging. Having emphasised Edu’s importance Arsenal cannot say it was less so although maybe the roles taken by Garlick and Lewis have led to him feeling that has happened anyway.
The departure of chief executive Vinai Venkatesham, who was close to Edu, probably did not help either. There was even talk that Edu fancied being the CEO himself but Garlick, promoted from director of football operations, and a former director of football at the Premier League, has taken on many of those responsibilities.
It feels there has been a shifting of the plates, a change in the axis, at Arsenal.
The timing of Edu’s decision hurts and creates an issue that Arteta will have to deal with during his pre-match press conference on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s key Champions League tie away to Inter Milan.
That game is also a reminder of what a significant figure Edu is in Arsenal’s history as the former midfielder played in the famous 5-1 win away to Inter in 2003 in a season that culminated in them being the Premier League Invincibles. It was the last time they won the league, of course.
Many expected this campaign to be the one when they finally won it again. Arsenal have undoubtedly been dealt a tough start, with challenging fixtures bunched together, but they are in fifth and seven points behind the leaders, Liverpool.
It means if they are to be champions they will already have to overturn the largest points gap to the leaders at this stage of the season. Previously it was six points while only Manchester City have won the Premier League with as few as 18 points after 10 games.
Liverpool inserting themselves so forcefully into the race, when it has been between City and Arsenal for the past couple of seasons, lessens some of the mitigation Arteta has had as he has taken on Pep Guardiola.
Injuries have hit, especially the loss of Odegaard, who has ended any doubt that he is Arsenal’s most important player, but the best teams and the best managers find a way to cope. And City and Liverpool are also suffering from key absences.
The stark reality for Arteta is that he has just an FA Cup triumph to show for his near five years in charge and while success cannot be just measured in trophies won, given how Arsenal have evidently been far better under the Spaniard and have been City’s strongest challengers more recently, that is an uncomfortable truth especially when £600 million has been spent since 2019. And Arteta won that cup with a squad he inherited and now has one that he and Edu have created.
There have been grumblings about the manager, but not from the match-going Arsenal fans, although they, too, will be wondering just what is going on. Like Arteta, Edu arrived in 2019. He joined Arsenal in June. Arteta was hired in December. Two years ago there was talk of Edu leaving, with interest from two European clubs, which led Arteta to declare that he wanted him to stay because “he’s a super-important figure for the club”. Edu has decided he is no longer super-important.
So whatever way it is presented it is a blow to lose Edu, who was promoted from technical director to become Arsenal’s first ever sporting director in that year, and in response to the interest in him.
That was the first indication that Edu might have itchy feet, or there was a hint that he might be considering leaving, and that sense has grown in recent months. Now the news has broken and the scrutiny on how Arteta reacts, and what it means for him, will begin. It undoubtedly adds to the pressure he and Arsenal are under.