2 weeks ago
13 Edu Gaspar may be destined to link up with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis judging by recent reports.
The Brazillian executive is now in line to depart his role as Arsenal sporting director, with a potentially more lucrative offer on the table from the Greek investor.
Arsenal's sporting director Edu is set to leave the club after spending five years behind the scenes ? pic.twitter.com/RRZ6HCTm7U
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) November 4, 2024
It’s a far from ideal situation given the 46-year-old’s role in helping construct a team capable of competing for the Premier League title.
This leads one to ask: Who will be the next sporting director at AFC?
Who will replace Edu as Arsenal sporting director?
Arsenal sporting director Edu – (Photo by Lia Toby/Getty Images)
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1) Monchi
Expect Aston Villa to fight tooth and nail to hold on to their president of football operations, Monchi. The ex-Sevilla sporting director built up his world-class reputation with his tremendous work in La Liga.
Barring a difficult two-year spell at Roma (2017-19), the Spaniard has otherwise excelled at signing talent on the cheap before developing and selling for profit. There’ll be a far greater emphasis on developing and keeping players at the Emirates Stadium, of course, but an eye for value in the market will nonetheless remain a desired attribute.
2) Julian Ward
This one may be considered a bit of a pipe dream for the Arsenal hierarchy. However, the now technical director – part of FSG’s structural revamp – does boast some experience as a sporting director (notably helping agree Mo Salah’s last contract renewal).
Julian Ward’s current role means he’ll oversee more than just the Reds, of course, for when Fenway do eventually expand their footballing portfolio further. However, an offer to directly influence football strategy at one of London’s big-hitters could at least prove tempting.
3) Michael Zorc
Fair warning. Expect Germans galore! Former Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc was a revelation in the Bundesliga. The former midfielder made the transition from footballer to director of football in 1998, later being promoted to sporting director from 2005-22.
In that period of time, the 62-year-old oversaw a sustainable and remarkable transfer policy that brought in players like Robert Lewandowski, Jadon Sancho, Ilkay Gundogan, Mario Gotze and many others.
BVB can, in fact, credit Zorc in large part with helping keep the club competitive in a league dominated by FC Bayern.
It will take quite the pitch from Arsenal to lure him out of retirement, but this could be quite a popular appointment to fill the void left by former sporting director Edu. Perhaps they could enjoy greater success than their last attempt to bring Zorc over back in 2017.

 
4) Jorg Schmadtke
Bit of an unlikely contender for a variety of reasons. The former Liverpool sporting director was, for all intents and purposes, a shoo-in prior to Richard Hughes’s arrival at Anfield. Further to that point, he was already living in semi-retirement in Ibiza.
Perhaps the Gunners would be better off turning their attention to Jorg’s son, Nils, who was made Bayern Munich’s new head of scouting this October!
New Bayern head of scouting Nils Schmadtke has already started his work and was at Säbener Straße today [? @BILD] pic.twitter.com/VeLt7XVPic
— Bayern & Germany (@iMiaSanMia) October 1, 2024
That said, if Arsenal could manage to convince the 60-year-old to come in as a stop-gap solution, it wouldn’t necessarily be the worst move ahead of the January window.
It’s gone a little under the radar that Schmadtke did a bang-up job fixing Liverpool’s midfield with the signings of Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister and Wataru Endo.
No such drastic surgery seems to be required in north London, but the German is, at least, an option to consider.
5) Tim Steidten
There’s a very real possibility that West Ham will be open to an eventuality that sees technical director Tim Steidten allowed to leave West Ham in the near future.
Growing tensions at the London Stadium amid poor results – the Hammers find themselves 14th in the table following a 3-0 hammering against Nottingham Forest – will no doubt play a role.
How popular a choice this will be as far as the Arsenal fanbase is concerned, of course, remains to be seen. The business Julen Lopetegui’s side has conducted over the summer transfer window hasn’t exactly been inspiring.
Veteran German striker Niclas Fullkrug has yet to register a goal or assist in four appearances since his Bundesliga transfer. Steidten will naturally argue that 26 goal contributions in 46 games (across all competitions) with Borussia Dortmund in the 2023/24 season should be relatively translatable to the Premier League.
The 31-year-old’s ongoing calf injury, however, means that this theory has yet to be seriously tested.
