Edu, the sports director of Arsenal, has disclosed the “three key elements” he looks when considering potential new additions to the transfer window.
Three players have been added by the Gunners this summer: Riccardo Calafiori costing £42 million, and David Raya completed a permanent contract worth £27 million.
In another decision that seems like a great deal, Arsenal has chosen to sign young, gifted goalkeeper Tommy Setford from Ajax for just under £1 million.
Age, pay, and overall performance are the three factors that Edu has now acknowledged the club considers when considering new players. The north Londoners have been connected to a number of other players.
‘Sometimes you have to make decisions that are not popular and popular,’ Edu told the Men in Blazers podcast.
‘You have to be very strong in your ideas, what you believe, what is good for the club, what is good for the future of the club and everything.
‘So for me, there is some elements here in football which I will always be with a lot of attention.
‘I always started to see the squad when I enjoyed or when I see the squads I started to the squad balance, the positions, the age, the group what we have but there are three elements here which for me you have to be really aware.
‘First of all, we have to see the age of the player, and then you have to see the salary of the player and the third you have to see the performance of the player. So if you have a over 26, 27-years-old you need attention.
‘If his salary is high, you need attention and if he’s not performing, you’re dead. Let’s come back, if you have a player 27-years-old, 28-years-old, big salary, but he’s performing you can accept.
‘What you cannot accept is if you have those three elements and one of them went over 28 you start to be uncomfortable, it’s better for you to move on because maybe this player is blocking someone younger as an asset to help you. So, when I came into Arsenal, when I see all the squads with all my respect, almost everyone was almost 26, 27, biggest salaries not performing.
‘If you have those three elements, which club in the world want to come here and buy one of our players, no one. So how you deal with that situation when you have those situation in your hands, you have to be strong and sometimes you have to make decisions.
‘So, or you go strong and try to make those decisions to let those players go or your project is going to take instead of three, four years it will take seven, eight, nine. Then unpopular decisions start to come, because most of the players watch, they have those elements sometimes in the club they a fan base, they have the media which love the players but for the club its not healthy to keep those players in that situation.’