Ademola Lookman, Edu and Victor Gyokeres (Photos by Alessandro Sabattini, Julian Finney, Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)
Edu’s imminent departure from Arsenal It was definitely a surprise.
There have been whispers for some time conversations with Evangelos Marinakis on a supervisory role for his football group, but it certainly wasn’t seen as a given that he would go ahead.
So his seemingly imminent departure has caught people off guard, with an official announcement from Arsenal about his future expected soon.
I’m off to Italy on Tuesday for the Champions League game with Inter and I’ll be at Mikel Arteta’s press conference at San Siro around 7pm.
It will be interesting to see if Arsenal make an announcement sooner. I would expect they will, just so they have something official before Arteta has to sit in front of a roomful of reporters, but we’ll have to wait and see.
I’m still a bit torn as to how Edu’s departure will affect the club.
There is no doubt that he has done a great job since his return to the club in 2019. Not every deal he has made has been a success, but most have worked out well and that is all you can ask for from a sporting director .
He and Arteta have worked very well together. They have aligned themselves in what they wanted to do and together they have moved the club forward in a big, big way.
They have overhauled and built a squad that is now full of excellent young players who have had Arsenal challenging for the Premier League title in recent seasons.
Arteta and Edu have a good relationship. They trust each other. Arteta knows they are on the same page and that is very important because it creates stability behind the scenes and that is absolutely vital.
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So the departure of Edu will affect Arteta. This is obvious. But it should not be seen as a disaster.
Athletic directors come and go. It’s a role at football clubs that always involves a fairly high turnover of staff. There are others who can do the job, so the important thing now is for the club to choose a successor wisely.
Arteta will have a strong say in this, along with Richard Garlick, the Arsenal chief executive and Tim Lewis, who make up Arsenal’s football leadership team.
Getting the appointment right is crucial. If they get it right, the new man could come in and bring a fresh perspective to the role that could help Arsenal in the long run.
So it’s interesting to evaluate it right now. It’s a bit of a step into the unknown for Arsenal again after a period of stability under Arteta and Edu.
The unknown can be a little daunting, of course, but it can also be exciting. It’s just about making sure you make the right decision at the right time.
Manchester City’s defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday somewhat softened the blow of Arsenal’s defeat at Newcastle.
This defeat brings the gap to City to just five points, which while far from ideal, is also far from insurmountable at this early stage of the season.
One thing that is certain, however, is that Arsenal will need to find some form quickly if they are to stay within striking distance of City and Liverpool at the top of the table.
The performance against Newcastle was worrying. It was so, so flat. It was very similar to the Bournemouth game in many ways.
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There is a real spark at Arsenal at the moment. Without Martin Odegaard it is hard to see where the creativity will come from.
Arsenal did well immediately after Odegaard’s injury. Arteta revived things a bit, with the switch to a front two of Kai Havertz and Leandro Trossard working quite well in their captain’s absence.
But that tactic seems to have run its course somewhat. Teams seemed to have taken notice and Trossard’s form has also fallen off a bit of a cliff in recent weeks.
And you can see, especially away from home, that Arsenal look pretty easy to play against.
I just don’t think the midfield pairing of Declan Rice and Mikel Merino works very well. It could be in the future, but right now with Merino still settling in and Rice far from his best, it just makes Arsenal a bit one-dimensional in central areas.
It looks like the only way something will happen is if Bukayo Saka gets on the ball. He is the only real threat and you need more than that if you want to open sides at the top level.
So it looks like Arteta needs to change something quickly if Arsenal are to get back on track.
They have two very difficult away games this week, first at Inter in the Champions League and then at Chelsea on Sunday. If he does the same as he did at Bournemouth and Newcastle, it’s hard to see the results being any different.
Odegaard is close to a return, which is positive, but he’ll need some time to regain his fitness and sharpness, so it’s expected to go slowly.
So Arteta will have to find another solution. I don’t know if it’s trusting Ethan Nwaneri to start, or bringing in Gabriel Jesus or Raheem Sterling. But it feels important that he tries something new to get Arsenal out of this slump they are in.
The title is still not gone. There is still a lot of football to be played and many points to be won.
But things need to improve quickly at Arsenal or they will soon find themselves too far off the pace and that will be incredibly disappointing given the ambitions the club had at the start of the season.
