Arsenal should strive to be more like Liverpool when negotiating transfer dealings, according to the club's technical director.
Edu, who has held the position as the Gunners' inaugural technical director since 2019, has revealed the admiration he holds for how Jurgen Klopp 's side is run off the field.
Since 2017/18, the Reds and Manchester City have been largely in a league of their own as they have won the last five league titles in England, with the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United failing to get close to the numbers both sides have yielded in recent season.
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Having not won a Premier League title since 2004, the Gunners have fallen in stature since their move to the Emirates in 2006 and have frequently been forced into selling their best players as Robin van Persie, Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri have all departed North London during their prime in order satisfy their craving of silverware. A position Liverpool found themselves regularly experiencing during the early 2010s as Fernando Torres, Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling all swapped Anfield for pastures new.
Speaking to Football. London, Edu spoke highly of the contingency plans the Reds have drawn up as they have been able to seamlessly replace some of their star players before they had left the club, as they did when bringing in Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez prior to Sadio Mane ending his six-year spell on Merseyside.
"Part of the plan is when you are starting to sell the players, that’s the challenging one," said Edu. "You already need someone prepared. [If we can then] sell, [and if] we are able to do that and then chapeau. It’s very challenging.
"For example, let’s talk about next season or another. If we sell, I don’t know, Bukayo Saka - that’s not going to happen but it’s just an example. If we’re going to sell Bukayo Saka, we as a club have to prepare his replacement straight away. So someone has to be in the squad or we have to manage the market well so if we sell we have him, we have someone straight away to replace him in our model.
"Yes, that’s a very nice plan," replied Edu when asked if the Reds' swift movement to replace Mane was something he would look to replicate in North London if they were faced with replacing Saka.
Having featured on the left side of a front three for most of his time at Anfield, the Reds moved swiftly to replace the Senegal international by wrapping up a deal for Diaz from Porto - despite originally planning to move for the Colombian this summer - because of Tottenham's desire to get a deal sorted in January.
But after a revival to his Merseyside career came in a more central position during his final few months of the campaign as he spearheaded an unlikely quadruple bid, his departure to Bayern Munich for a deal that could return a potential £35m - if all performance-related add-ons are met - was not sanctioned by Julian Ward and his team until it was clear Nunez would be signed from Portuguese giants Benfica.
It's that type of fluidity in the transfer market that has seen Liverpool enjoy a golden age of on-field success under the guidance of Klopp, with the work of former sporting director Michael Edwards handing the German the tools to build an all-conquering side, something Edu has ambitions of replicating for current manager Mikel Arteta.
"Here is the win [Points to head]," added Edu. "Ah, Champions League, ok - I accepted that, because I want to be realistic. But here [points to head again], I want to win. A club like Arsenal, at our size, is not building to be fighting for fourth place. I’m sorry. We have to be realistic - there’s City, Liverpool etc - that’s fine, I accept that. But also, you can not accept that. Here, when you join this club, when you see our size, we cannot accept it."
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