In an interview with Men In Blazers, Arsenal's sporting director Edu gives an insight into how and why the club has taken a number of steps in recent years to reduce the average age of its first-team players and explains how it has dealt with the sensitive issue of sacking overpaid, under-achieving players.
Edu began by emphasizing the importance of decision-making in the world of soccer, noting that sometimes decisions have to be made that are good for the club even if they are unpopular. He mentioned that when he joined Arsenal, he immediately focused on three core elements: team performance, player position and age structure. He believes that these three elements are key to assessing the current state of the team and developing a strategy for the future.
Speaking on the balance between players' age, salary and performance, Edu made it clear that if a player is old (over 27 or 28 years old), has a hefty salary and performs poorly, then such a player is detrimental to the long-term development of the team. He emphasized that such a player may hinder the development of young, promising players and affect the overall competitiveness of the team.
Edu further revealed that when he first took office, he found that most of the players in Arsenal's team conformed to the characteristics of "high age, high salary, low performance". He realized that if he did not carry out radical reform, Arsenal will be difficult to attract the attention of other clubs, but also unable to sell high-priced players in the transfer market, and thus unable to inject fresh blood into the team.
In order to change this, Edu decided to take tough measures to clean up the team and lay the foundation for rebuilding. He emphasized that the decision, while unpopular, was necessary for the club. He respects the sacked players but believes that their presence has been detrimental to the long-term development of the team.
