Mikel Arteta Confirms He’s “Very Much Involved” In Recruiting New Sporting Director

By The Editor
on 23rd November 2024

Arteta is one of the decision makers…

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta has confirmed that he’ll be heavily involved in the recruitment of a new sporting director as the club looks to replace Edu.

Edu handed in his resignation earlier this month which came as a shock to fans who believed he’d want to see through the journey with Arteta all the way to securing a major trophy.

However, if – as reports suggest – the former Arsenal midfielder has been offered a lucrative role overseeing a multi-club system owned by Evangelos Marinakis, then his decision is more understandable.

Edu’s former assistant Jason Ayto is currently in the role on an interim basis and while the club haven’t ruled out an internal solution, a recruitment process is underway.

It’s a process Arteta has confirmed he’s very much involved in, which may surprise some.

“I can talk about what we are doing right now and I’m going to be very much involved in that process because we want to find the right person first of all,” Arteta told the press.

“And the right person has to be someone who is able to co-operate and make each other better and take us to a different level. That’s the objective of it.”

Given how crucial the relationship between manager and sporting director is, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Arteta is involved in the decision-making process.

There has been a discussion online that the Spaniard is becoming too powerful at the club and this post needed to be filled by someone who ‘challenges’ the manager.

It’s unclear why many feel Arteta wasn’t already challenged as Gunners boss with the former skipper constantly referring to big decisions as ‘club decisions’ rather than ones he railroaded.

It will be interesting to see what path Arteta and the board go down as we look to fill the role before the January transfer window.