Edu, Joorabchian, and the improvements Arsenal can make post-COVID

In a recent era that seems all too far away from the present for Arsenal, Arsene Wenger did not allow for the influence of super-agents.

Wenger refused to have anything to do with them after failing to sign Radamel Falcao from Monaco following Jorge Mendes’ double-dealing that led to him being snatched away from the Gunners at the last second by Manchester United.

That era, however, is long gone. Recently, Arsenal’s signings have been criticised from all areas, in no small part due to technical director Edu’s seemingly arbitrary and often questionable transfer strategy.

It is impossible to write about Edu’s influence over Arsenal transfers without mentioning the outspoken Kia Joorabchian – super-agent, Arsenal fan, and representative of David Luiz, Willian and Cedric Soares among others.

As a young and inexperienced technical director, Edu can easily be forgiven for making a few mistakes in his first forays into the hectic world of transfer business. To grant Joorabchian, his close friend, such great influence over the club and its dealings, however, must be called into question.

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher rightly scrutinized the deals Joorabchian has been involved in with Arsenal; questioning whether these benefitted the club or rather the super-agent and his clients’ bank accounts.

This is an easy conclusion to reach when analysing the Willian deal last summer. The 32 year old was given a three year contract and became the fourth highest paid player at the club. He has hardly been a worthy investment, assisting three (all on his debut) and scoring none in 22 games for the club.

Fans might be forgiven for criticising the logic of the transfer and it is not a surprise some have taken to Twitter to describe the transfer as the player’s ‘retirement package’.

The two other deals brokered by the super-agent Joorabchian have not covered Edu’s relationship with him in glory either. David Luiz’s time at the club has been characterised by immaturity on the pitch, losses of concentration in key moments, high profile sendings off and penalties conceded.

Cedric Soares has hardly been the impact player he was marketed as upon arrival on a lengthy 4-year contract and after featuring predominantly in the Europa League (only featuring in the Premier League through Kieran Tierney’s absence), Arsenal fans must be wondering what he brings to the team that a fresh Hale-End graduate would not be able to match.

Joorabchian’s influence is not confined to the negotiating table, though.

The agent has also increased the atmosphere of negativity around the club compounded by poor results this season. Replying to Jamie Carragher’s criticism of Arsenal’s dealings with players signed to him, he responded “The fact is I had nothing to do with the signing of Willian. If Jamie had bothered to check with Mikel [Arteta] or Edu, they would have said Mikel presented three different times to convince Willian to be his number one signing at Arsenal…Mikel convinced him to stay.”

In August, Joorabchian accused former head of recruitment Sven Mislintat of making several ‘cock ups’ in the transfer market.

It should be noted that Mislintat was responsible for the signings of Berndt Leno – current first team goalkeeper, perhaps the sole player responsible for Unai Emery keeping his job for as long as he did in 2019, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang – current captain, 2019/20 Player of the Season, 2018/19 Golden Boot winner, and the fastest player to score 50 Premier League goals for the club, the highly rated Matteo Guendouzi and former fan-favourite Lucas Torreira among others.

Arsenal have not had a Wolves-esque relationship with super agents ever, especially recently. This extends past the questionable dealings with Joorabchian’s clients. Like Wolves, Arsenal tried to use Jorge Mendes to improve their fortunes in the transfer market. It did not go well. Mendes brokered the £72million deal to bring Nicolas Pepe to the club in 2019, a sum even the most staunch defenders of the club’s policy will find hard to justify and which unsurprisingly resulted in Raul Sanllehi’s sacking.

Similarly, Joorabchian is not the only one of the Arsenal hierarchy’s close friends who has secured a deal for their client at the club. Auturo Canales, Pablo Mari’s agent, is a long term associate of the now departed Raul Sanllehi’s and despite Mari’s good form recently, it is difficult to imagine that the deal took place with this as a non-influential factor.

Edu is seemingly only too ready to rely on signing his associates’ clients. Combine this with the recent dismantling of large parts of the Arsenal scouting network, notably the sacking of veteran scout Francis Cagigao (responsible for the signings of Cesc Fabregas, Santi Cazorla and Hector Bellerin, and more recently William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli)  and a worrying picture emerges of badly thought out, unwise transfers to benefit a select few.

In a time where it is more important for Arsenal to cut costs, streamline, and improve transfer efficiency than ever, this needs to be ironed out or the club where standards have clearly slipped in recent years risks falling further behind the pace set elsewhere. Michael Edwards at Liverpool has proven that someone in Edu’s role can flourish and bring the club real success, and that he needs to emulate.

When Arsenal have been linked recently with out of form Isco and out of favour Julian Draxler, but maybe mercifully none of Kia Joorabchian’s clients, perhaps a transfer window market by widespread lack of business was a good reset point for The Gunners. Martin Ødegaard seems a clever temporary improvement too. Some good transfer windows once the virus has subsided and transfer business is back to normal are crucial for the club to make shrewd signings.

Mikel Arteta said that the week after Christmas was the most important in the club’s season until then, and perhaps once the seasons change and things return to some sort of normal, the windows ahead will be the club’s most important for a few years to come.

Tom Bullivant

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