Arsenal technical director Edu has promised that he will never sign a new player for the club without the approval of manager Mikel Arteta.
Both men are former Arsenal midfielders and have been in their current roles with the club since 2019, meaning they are in joint charge of revamping the club’s squad throughout transfer windows.
So far this summer they have brought a plethora of new players into the Gunners’ squad. Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko have joined from for a combined total of around £80m, while Potuguese attacking midfielder Fabio Vieira has been signed from FC Porto for £40m.
In addition, goalkeeper has joined from MLS side New England Revolution for just over £5m, while teenage Brazilian winger Marquinhos has arrived for around £3m from Sao Paolo.
For Edu, the idea of signing a player without Arteta’s approval is unconscionable.
‘I’m never ever going to sign a player which Mikel is not comfortable with, never,’ Edu told . ‘That’s not my style and for sure it’s not the style.
‘If we decide to work together then the decision needs to be together. It’s not Mikel’s signings, it’s not Edu’s signings, it’s the Arsenal signings so that for me is the most important thing for people to understand.’
Arsenal missed out on Champions League football after dropping behind rivals Tottenham Hotspur due to poor form at the end of last season, and Edu believes that everybody in the club’s hierarchy must be accountable for decisions made in the transfer market and the impact those choices have on results.
‘I always say people sometimes give the credit to me or to Mikel, but the credit has to go to Arsenal. We are Arsenal, we are working together and the decision we make is together.
‘Around one decision is not only Edu and Mikel, it’s a lot of people around those decisions. The most important message to the fans and for people to understand is that we sign players for Arsenal and [they are] Arsenal’s decisions.’
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