Arsenal technical director Edu has reportedly made it clear he wishes to stay at the club as the Gunners battle to keep hold of the Brazilian amid interest from at least two rivals.
Edu returned to the club where he spent four years as a player in 2019 and has quickly proven himself to be a transfer guru. With a squad that has been largely built by Edu, the Gunners have charged to the top of the Premier League this season, having not won a title for nearly two decades.
It is therefore no surprise that club chiefs at the Emirates Stadium are now looking to hand him a bumper new deal. While work is already underway to secure his long-term future, a potential spanner has been thrown in the works by interest from other teams.
According to the Daily Mail, the 'wheels are in motion' for Arsenal to secure Edu's long-term future at the club. But there is said to be 'growing interest' in the Brazilian, with at least two European teams making that interest concrete.
Arsenal are aware of that rival interest but remain hopeful that they can keep hold of their technical director. A major boost to those hopes is that Edu is thought to be happy with life at the Gunners.
And he is understood to have indicated that he is 'minded to commit' his future to the league leaders. Arsenal are keen to wrap up a deal to extend his stay, though so far an agreement has not been reached.
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Arguably the strongest evidence of Edu's skills in the transfer market came in the summer transfer window just gone. He brought in Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fabio Vieira in a hugely successful window, with Edu hailing those signings as signifying a change in attitude.
"If we got Champions League last season, we would have advanced one year [ahead] in the project. 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," he said in July.
"I think we’ve added some more players with that kind of character. Talk to Gabriel, talk to Zinchenko, talk to Fabio. [Points to head] Here is the win. Ah, Champions League, ok — I accepted that, because I want to be realistic.
"But here [head], 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 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.
"That’s why I was really really hurt when I arrived. And I think we are changing. Again, it doesn’t happen overnight, but I think we are changing and putting some good mentality in the squad. Characters."
