Martin Odegaard, William Saliba and Edu’s 10 best signings as Arsenal sporting director – ranked

There once was a time where Arsenal looked like they were stuck on the road to nowhere. They were continually the butt of the joke, particularly when it came to transfers and squad building.

In the summer of 2021, Gary Neville famously and infamously claimed: “I don’t know the plan at Arsenal. The recruitment has been really poor. I don’t get the strategy, I don’t get the direction of how they’re taking the team.”

It’s to the credit of manager Mikel Arteta and sporting director Edu, who initially returned to north London as technical director in 2019, that this sentiment belongs consigned to the distant past and a completely different era of the club. Alas, Arsenal’s transfer duo are splitting up.

It was reported on Monday that Edu is leaving his post at the Emirates Stadium, marking an end to an important chapter in the Gunners’ recent history. The current squad, one built for Premier League and Champions League contention, is shaped largely in the Brazilian’s image. He was part of the Invincibles as a player, but if this Arsenal core does go on to win a major title, Edu will also become immortal.

GOAL has dug back through the archives and ranked the 10 best signings made under Edu:

• Getty Images Sport

  10Gabriel Jesus

  It would really help this argument if you ignore the nine-month goal drought that Gabriel Jesus recently ended, mainly because when he arrived at Arsenal he looked like the second coming of Ronaldo and was the best player to watch in the entire league.

  It would also really help if you remembered how much of a coup it was for Arsenal to pinch a £45 million forward from Manchester City, who were almost completely unaware they were strengthening a title rival to come. Jesus’ signing raised the ceiling of the calibre of player the Gunners could buy.

  During his debut season, the Brazilian – previously maligned for his indecision over wanting to be a striker or a winger – proved the perfect No.9 for what Arteta was trying to build. He could do it all, and only injuries stood in his way from fulfilling the potential he first showed at Palmeiras and his early City tenure. Nowadays, Jesus is an afterthought in Arsenal thinking, though that shouldn’t diminish the importance of his signing.

  • Getty Images Sport

    9David Raya

    The only real reason why David Raya isn’t higher on this list is the strange trajectory of goalkeeper’s careers. After all, Aaron Ramsdale looked a terrific signing one-and-a-half seasons into his Arsenal spell before his ascendancy jolted and reversed.

    After a ropey start between the Emirates sticks, Raya has cemented himself as one of Europe’s finest shot-stoppers, proving the perfect foil behind his towering defence – he is the best cross-claimer and commander of his box among his positional rivals.

    Edu deserves a little bit of extra credit too given how Arsenal were able to schmooze Brentford into an initial £3m loan deal which then turned into a £27m permanent transfer, allowing the Gunners greater PSR flexibility.
  • Getty Images Sport

    8Oleksandr Zinchenko

    Alright, he might not be a favourite among Arsenal fans anymore given his defensive lapses, but there’s no doubt that Oleksandr Zinchenko deserves a heap of credit for helping Arsenal make the leap from top-four hopefuls to genuine title contenders.

    Signed around the same time as City team-mate Jesus, the Ukrainian brought a tactical savviness and mental resilience that Arteta knew of from his own Etihad Stadium experiences. It was telling how upset City fans were following confirmation of Zinchenko’s despite his limited minutes.

    Zinchenko wasn’t the world’s first inverted full-back, though he was one of the position’s perfect players. Edu didn’t purchase a City castaway, rather an underrated and undervalued player in their setup.

  • Getty Images Sport

    7Leandro Trossard

    Leandro Trossard was not one of Arsenal’s top targets heading into the January 2023 window. It seemed for all the world that Mykhailo Mudryk would be the winger signed by Edu and Arteta, but they were pipped to the post by Chelsea, who just couldn’t help themselves in overpaying for another raw young player.

    Fortunately for Arsenal, an even better option fell into their laps. Trossard had grown disillusioned at Brighton despite their advances under Roberto De Zerbi, and Tottenham decided against an approach for the Belgian, allowing their north London rivals a clear run.

    For £21m, Arsenal purchased a two-footed threat who excelled in big games and has already contributed 20 goals in just over 18 months, despite not always being a regular starter. It’s a deal they would do a hundred times over.

  • Getty Images Sport

    6Ben White

    No one talks about Ben White’s £50m price tag anymore, but it was once the top line of Arsenal discourse. Why did they spend so much money on someone as unproven as the young Englishman? Who were they bidding against to be held over a barrel like that?

    Well, Edu and co have been vindicated in their decision to fork out. Whether at centre-back or right-back, there’s an argument to be made that White has been Arsenal’s most consistent player in their rise under Arteta’s management.

    With his obscene tan, no-nonsense nonchalance and stout nous, White has been the cult hero behind the Gunners’ grit. £50m well spent and then some.

  • Getty Images Sport

    5Declan Rice

    Wow, a £105m player has been a hit, congratulations! I hear you, I hear you. Ordinarily, it’s hard to shine such a signing in an overwhelmingly positive light, but that would ignore the important context of Declan Rice’s move from West Ham.

    There was barely a doubt that Rice would be a hit if he joined Arsenal, which is exactly why Edu and Arteta should be praised for convincing him to spurn the advances of Man City and remain in London instead. For years, the Gunners were torn apart for ‘failing to replace Patrick Vieira’, and at least now they’ve identified a belated successor.

    So, yes, you can’t call Edu a genius for deciding to drop nine figures on a clearly world-class player in waiting, though it’s equally disingenuous to overlook the deal for the numbers alone.

  • AFP

    4Gabriel Magalhaes

    Gabriel’s journey to become one of the Premier League’s leading centre-backs has been so seamless that it has almost flown completely under the radar. There’s been such little fuss or fanfare about him during the entirety of his time at Arsenal, he’s merely got on with his job and gotten better year on year. No one even bats an eye at the hair transplant which seemed to be going awry once upon a time.

    Manchester United were also in the market for a left-sided centre-back in 2020 and were heavily linked with Lille’s Brazilian monster, but he plumped for Arsenal and should have no regrets over that decision. Together with William Saliba, Gabriel forms one half of the country’s best centre-back duo almost without question.

  • Getty Images Sport

    3Gabriel Martinelli

    Edu was still the freshly-appointed technical director in 2019 when Arsenal wrapped up a deal for little-known Gabriel Martinelli, but he has been widely credited as the driving force behind finding the gem from Brazil’s fourth tier – the winger would never have secured a work permit without an Italian passport, such was his obscurity.

    The jump from the lower leagues in South America to the Premier League didn’t faze Martinelli, whose electric energy and tenacious style immediately endeared himself to the Arsenal faithful. He couldn’t be overlooked as an important cog in Arteta’s young team he sought to build after he returned to the Emirates a few months after Martinelli’s signing.

    Martinelli hasn’t quite rediscovered his sensational form from 2022-23 and his performances are starting to frustrate supporters, but it’s impossible for him to be ignored as one of Edu’s best pieces of business.

  • Getty Images Sport

    2William Saliba

    Like Martinelli, the signing of Saliba came when Edu was merely technical director. Like Martinelli, he was still impactful in negotiations and it would be remiss to not count him towards his record.

    Europe’s elite circled for Saint-Etienne’s Saliba in 2019 and he all but had the pick of his next club. Remarkably, the Gunners’ main rivals for his signature eventually proved to be Spurs, and those split down the red half of the Seven Sisters Road should thank their lucky stars he opted for them instead.

    Five years on, the Frenchman seems a safe bet to be the world’s best defender within the next couple of years. He is Virgil van Dijk 2.0 and has the seal of approval from the Dutch centre-back himself.

    “Obviously, Saliba’s making very good steps at the moment. He’s the first one I just have in mind now,” Van Dijk said. “He’s a solid one. I think in possession, he’s doing a good job. I think, if I’m honest, when I was that age, I was nowhere near where he was today.”

  • Getty Images Sport

    1Martin Odegaard

    In terms of transfer fee, impact, influence and how a deal had to be forced through, the purchase of Martin Odegaard is indisputably Edu’s greatest signing.

    The Norwegian first rocked up in N5 midway through the 2020-21 season when he found game time at Real Madrid hard to come by, and he was admittedly a slow burner in getting adjusted to the English game, which is why Arsenal didn’t initially seek to make the move permanent.

    Instead, Arteta is said to have wanted then-Leicster City playmaker James Maddison as his new creative midfielder, but the Foxes’ £60m asking price proved prohibitive. Talks with Leicester hit an impasse and so Edu gave another call to Florentino Perez, this time to bring in Odegaard on a permanent deal.

    Within 12 months of his second stint, Odegaard was named Arsenal captain at just 23 years of age. He has delivered on his wonderkid status and the first team are severely struggling in his absence, reinforcing how important a signing he has been. Odegaard is Edu’s finest piece of work and would be a standalone headline on his metaphorical CV.