Arsenal have new rules for transfer model as Edu explains why Dortmund ace was snubbed

Arteta welcomes Zinchenko to Arsenal after Man City move

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Arsenal technical director Edu has explained the lengths he will go to ensure the club doesn’t fall back into the bad habits of their previous regime when signing players. He has used a failed pursuit of a Borussia Dortmund player as an example of that philosophy he and Mikel Arteta are abiding by in the transfer market.

Over the last three years, Edu has spearheaded an overhaul of Arsenal’s playing staff to support Arteta with consistent financial backing while balancing the books by offloading high-earning, underperforming stars. Ben White and Gabriel Jesus have been among Arteta’s big-money signings since his December 2019 appointment, but the Gunners’ wage bill has plummeted simultaneously.

The likes of Sead Kolasinac, Mesut Ozil, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette have been shipped off under Arteta’s watch. And Edu has explained why Arsenal are avoided players of the same ilk when looking to add to the Spaniard’s squad.

Edu has explained that Arsenal are no longer interested in signing players motivated by the financial gain of their switch. Instead, he’s eyeing those who will fit Arteta’s vision, which a particular Dortmund star the club were recently in talks with didn’t.

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He told The Athletic: “Face-to-face — I go there, I meet the player. If I have to travel to Germany, anywhere. I want to see the player, the agent, the family, put everyone together and say, ‘Guys, listen to me and what I want to say’. And then I sell what we are doing, our project. Because it works both ways, doesn’t it?

“I want to show them, but I want to see as well if they want to enjoy it because if I smell something wrong [then], ‘Thank you very much, I go [and don’t sign them]’. I faced an experience like this for a player in Dortmund. I started to talk to them, engage the player, talk to the family, but always, ‘Yeah, but what about my contract?’.

“I said, ‘Listen, I want to understand first if you engage with this, if you like this. If you like it, I can talk, but not the opposite side’. ‘Ah no, let’s talk about the money…’ No, no, no, no. And one day, I said to the agent: ‘Guys, thank you very much, [but] it’s not what I want to do’. Boom.”

Arsenal’s new approach has somewhat reaped the rewards. The Gunners spent more than any other Premier League club last summer but focused on recruiting the right players. Arteta was inches away from guiding the club back into the Champions League through a top-four finish while playing some of the best football fans have witnessed in years.

Edu and Co. will hope the same approach this term will help Arsenal go the extra mile. The club have already spent in excess of £100million on Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabio Vieira, Marquinhos and Matt Turner this summer, and more are expected through the doors before the new season gets underway in under two weeks’ time.

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