Edu’s Arsenal exit explained: transfer trouble and the Joorabchian connection

Evangelos Marinakis is no stranger to acquiring footballers but the Nottingham Forest owner was an interested observer at a different kind of auction last month. The Tattersalls October Yearling Sale at Newmarket was particularly busy for Kia Joorabchian’s Amo Racing group, with the renowned football agent shelling out more than £8m on three signings – including £4.6m on a filly produced by the great Frankel and the 2018 Royal Ascot winner AlJazzi. “God, I hope we haven’t bought a dud,” Joorabchian commented to the Racing Post this week on his record-breaking spending spree.

Those purchases took Amo Racing’s outlay this year to more than £24m for the group fronted by Joorabchian, who is perhaps best known for his role as representing Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano for their controversial moves to West Ham. The 53-year-old has made no secret of his desire to make an impact in the sport of kings and lists a member of the Qatari royal family as one of the investors in Amo Racing. It remains to be seen whether Marinakis plans to follow suit. After he was spotted with Joorabchian at June’s prestigious Goffs London Sale, the Greek shipping magnate said he was not part of the investment group. “No, I’m just here to enjoy the day,” he said.

If the departure of Edu from his role as Arsenal’s sporting director to join the network of clubs spearheaded by Marinakis raised eyebrows this week, it appears less of a surprise given Joorabchian’s long-established relationship with both men. Edu was one of Joorabchian’s first clients after coming through the youth system at Corinthians in São Paulo and joined Arsenal in 2001. He was part of the Invincibles squad in 2004 before departing for Valencia the following year.

Having impressed as director of football at Corinthians, Edu moved to a similar role with Brazil before being snapped up by Arsenal in 2019, initially as technical director. He has often described Joorabchian as a close friend as well as his agent and the Iran-born businessman acted for him during negotiations over his contract in north London.

Some of Arsenal’s early signings under Edu were Joorabchian clients, including Willian and David Luiz, who proved less than successful. Edu and Joorabchian are said to have been integral in bringing Gabriel Martinelli to the club in 2019, and Joorabchian is understood to have played a key role in the permanent signing of Martin Ødegaard from Real Madrid in 2021.

Edu’s partnership with Mikel Arteta was a new one but has also been integral to Arsenal’s steady progress over the past few seasons. In September when the manager ended any doubts over his future by signing a three-year contract extension, it appeared they were only just getting started, having spent more than £500m on players in the previous three seasons.

“I hope that he stays here for a long time because I think it’s going to be a really positive thing for the club,” Arteta said of his colleague. “I work with him really well and I think he’s a super important figure at the club that represents all of the values and ideas that we want to take the right way, and hopefully that will be the case.”

Only 54 days have passed since but the dynamic has changed significantly after a poor start to the season characterised by injury and ill-discipline. Edu is thought to have been frustrated by the decision not to spend big in last summer’s transfer window after Arsenal signed Raheem Sterling on loan from Chelsea at the last minute instead of bringing in more costly attacking reinforcements, and his ambition eventually to take over as chief executive looked no closer to being fulfilled.

Reports that Marinakis was interested in Edu first surfaced in Portugal at the start of the season and the idea would certainly have been discussed in private with Joorabchian over the past few weeks. Edu is expected to treble his salary working as part of the multi-club structure under Marinakis that features Forest, Olympiakos in Greece and the Portuguese side Rio Ave. Negotiations are continuing over a potential purchase of the Serie A club Monza. Edu is likely to head up a department at Forest which already includes the chief football officer, Ross Wilson, the global technical director, George Syrianos, and the head of recruitment, Pedro Ferreira.

For Arsenal, time is of the essence as they search for a replacement. Arteta is expected to play a key role in that decision along with the executive vice-chair, Tim Lewis, and the managing director, Richard Garlick, as they attempt to move on from an unwelcome setback.