Defeats, injuries and suspensions. The last few weeks have been tough for Arsenal, and now, to top it all off, Edu Gaspar has resigned.

The Gunners’ now ex-Sporting Director was one of the leading men, at least publicly, of the club’s resurgence over the last few years.

Edu's most expensive Arsenal signings

Alongside Mikel Arteta, he helped to utterly transform the squad, and while his departure is far from ideal, he leaves with a good track record of signing brilliant players, including one now worth a whopping £90m.

Edu's best signings

Before we get to the player in question, let’s look at some of the Brazilian’s other fantastic signings, including one attacker who technically joined the club a week before the former player was appointed as technical director: Gabriel Martinelli.

Yes, even though the talented winger put pen to paper before Edu joined the club as technical director, it’s said that he played a ‘key role’ in the deal alongside former head of recruitment Francis Cagigao.

Since moving to England, the former Ituano gem has come on leaps and bounds, racking up a tally of 43 goals and 27 assists in 189 games.

While he took a slight step back last season, he’s still worth an enormous amount of money, with Football Transfers valuing him at around €62m, which is £52m.

Another of the former Invincible’s best signings is Martin Odegaard, who initially joined the club on a six-month loan in January 2021 before signing on a permanent deal for around £30m that summer.

Since then, the Norwegian maestro has scored 35 goals and provided 25 assists in 156 appearances, become club captain, established himself as one of the leading midfielders in the Premier League, if not Europe, and seeing his value rise to around the £60m mark.

However, there was another brilliant addition Edu made last summer, one that was more than a little controversial at the time.

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Edu's controversial signing

The player in question is German international Kai Havertz, who joined Arsenal in a £65m deal from cross-city rivals Chelsea.

The transfer raised more than a few eyebrows, with former professional Gabby Agbonlahor labelling the move “very strange” and the “wrong deal” at the time.

Fortunately, the former Aston Villa striker has since been proven very wrong – there’s a shock – as, following a shift in position from central midfield to centre-forward, the former Blues ace has been sensational for the North Londoners.

Appearances

33

30

Goals

6

13

Assists

0

8

Goal Involvements per Match

0.18

0.70

For example, in his 33 games for the Gunners as a midfielder, he’s scored just six goals, whereas, in 30 appearances as the central striker, he has scored 13 goals and provided eight assists, which is a seriously impressive average of a goal involvement every 1.42 games.

Moreover, the “magnificent” attacker, as dubbed by talent scout Jacek Kulig, hasn’t just been scoring against lower-level opposition either, as he’s found the back of the net against Tottenham Hotspur, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Newcastle United.

Unsurprisingly, the 25-year-old’s strong form and growing importance within the team have seen his value increase, with Football Transfers now pricing him at around €95m, which converts to about £90m.

Ultimately, Edu’s departure does feel ill-timed, but even so, he has signed a number of incredible players for Arsenal over the years, and there can be no doubt that Havertz is one of them.

Arsenal could hire amazing Edu replacement who achieved an unbeaten season

News broke on Monday morning that Edu Gaspar would leave his role at Arsenal.

ByMatt Dawson Nov 4, 2024