Arsenal hold talks with two former players over replacing Edu as sporting director

Two former Arsenal players are reportedly being eyed up to become the club’s new sporting director following the shock resignation of Edu.

It was announced on Monday that Edu had left his post at the Emirates and is expected to take up a role at Evangelos Marinakis’ group of clubs which includes Nottingham Forest.

His shoes will be big ones to fill, with Edu’s signings over the last five years key to the Gunners’ revival under Mikel Arteta, though it is said his exit will not affect their plans for the January transfer window.

Arsenal will take their time over deciding who best to replace him, with assistant sporting director Jason Ayto set for a bigger role at the club and external candidates under consideration.

The Telegraph have reported that West Ham technical director Tim Steidten could be in the running, with the Irons fearful they could lose him to their London rivals.

Steidten, who previously worked at Bayer Leverkusen, would be a somewhat surprising appointment given that nearly all of his signings for West Ham have failed to meet expectations so far.

But French outlet Foot Mercato have also reported that Arsenal’s hierarchy ‘highly appreciate’ the work done by former players Per Mertesacker and Tomas Rosicky since they hung up their boots.

Talks have supposedly been held with the pair, though, as mentioned, a final decision is a long way off.

Ex-captain Mertesacker became the head of Arsenal’s academy upon retiring in 2018 and briefly served as interim assistant manager to Freddie Ljungberg prior to Arteta’s arrival in 2019.

Rosicky meanwhile is the sporting director at Sparta Prague, the club where he began and ended his playing career.

The pair made a combined 468 appearances for the north London giants, winning the FA Cup together in 2014.

While being a former Arsenal star should not qualify one for the job automatically, Edu himself spent four years playing for the Gunners and if Mertesacker and/or Rosicky can at least replicate his success, they’d be a great asset for the club.

In the meantime, Arteta’s side have work to do on the pitch with a tricky clash at rivals Chelsea on Sunday, a game they cannot afford to lose if they want to stay in the title race this season.

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