Edu left Arsenal earlier this yearplaceholder image
Edu left Arsenal earlier this year | Arsenal FC via Getty Images
Thierry Henry has been speaking about why Arsenal might have what it takes to win the title this season.
Thierry Henry has pointed out Edu Gaspar’s biggest failure as Arsenal sporting director as the Gunners begin to see what it might take to end their long-awaited search for another Premier League title. It has been more than two decades since their last, and in recent years, at least, it hasn’t been for lack of trying.
Arsenal have spent big to try to get over the line, but they have ultimately been second best to Manchester City and then Liverpool. Former chief Edu was charged with overseeing the Arteta revolution, agreeing big-money deals like Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and many others.
Edu’s work set up some of the success of today - there is no doubting that. Many of Arsenal’s starting XI today are players Edu and Arteta signed together. But it did not lead to success in the short or medium term, and he ultimately left on the count of Arteta getting a little too much power at the club for his liking.
But while some very good signings were made, Arsenal ultimately fell short, and that is due to a singular approach that failed to recognise the importance of depth within a squad. Arsenal may have had individual quality, but they had next to no depth that was ultimately exposed when injuries came knocking.
Andrea Berta has managed to address that in the summer just gone, and with the help of more than £200million, no less. Arsenal are far from title winners at this early stage, but it’s easy to recognise the impressive quality in depth they now have.
“The squad is bigger, and we must respect whatever the rotation is going to be from Mikel Arteta," Gunners legend Thierry Henry told Betway. "Having the choice is what he wanted. They analysed what they were missing in the past three years when players like Odegaard, Saliba and Saka got injured, and the club felt they were short.
"Are the youngsters going to come in more often? You need to ask Mikel. But as an Arsenal fan, you love to see Nwaneri, Dowman and Lewis-Skelly, and Saka is from the academy as well. I always say that to win the league, you need a squad. Having some guys who can jump in when the No. 9 is not scoring is what will make the difference.
"I used to feel that Arsenal could win the league as a fan, because you dream and you hope. For the first time in a long time, I can see this team winning the league – not just as an Arsenal fan, but as a football fan and an analyst. I see it, because they are united."
Henry’s comments speak that need for depth, and it’s something Arsenal fans have been pointing out for some time. Edu was not able to address it, and you wonder whether he might have been better off sacraficing some quality for more depth, particularly when it came to pricey deals like Havertz, who cost £65million. Arsenal could have got three solid players for that amount.
Would they have been good enough to help win the title? Who knows. That is the difficulty of the job, and we can’t give Berta all the credit. He came in and was able to solely focus on adding quality depth with a very solid squad having already been built. He has been working from a very luxurious position, and one that would have been hard to regress from.
But what we do know is that Edu did not get Arsenal to the title success he and the club desired, and his strategy of signing high-price quality players rather than focusing on depth did not work, and it was unlikely to work in an era of football that is so incredibly demanding that injuries are inevitable.
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