Andrea Berta is already doing something very ‘different’ at Arsenal that Edu Gaspar never did

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Andrea Berta replaced Edu Gaspar as Arsenal’s sporting director in March 2025.

The Brazilian spent over five years at the helm of the Gunners. He was the one who started the current project under Mikel Arteta and did a lot of good things.

From signing the likes of Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Magalhaes for bargain fees in 2020 to smashing the club record for Declan Rice, Edu brought a lot of joy to Arsenal fans.

It’s a new era at the Emirates now under Berta, and the Italian’s approach to transfers is very different compared to that of Edu.

Andrea Berta’s ‘different’ transfer strategy at Arsenal

Andrea Berta has been in the game for a long, long time.

The Italian has been a sporting director since 2002, which was the year Edu Gaspar joined Arsenal as a player from Corinthians.

Berta has overseen transfers at Carpenedolo, Parma, Genoa and Atletico Madrid, and he has been involved in some big deals over the last two decades.

Edu’s first-ever role was at Arsenal, so there is an argument to be made that he was learning on the job during his time at the Emirates.

Berta has been there and done that, and Ben Jacobs has now explained how his transfer strategy differs from Edu’s.

He said on talkSPORT: “The best way of describing it is that Andrea Berta’s approach is different to Edu. If he was going to a party, he would lay out three or four outfits, try them all on and finally decide what to wear.

“With this race for a number nine, what’s happening is that both deals, for Benjamin Sesko and Viktor Gyokeres, are being advanced or ‘tried on’ before a bid is made.”

Speaking further, Jacobs added: “Andrea Berta is out in the market, effectively lining up both deals, whereas Edu tended to pick one and be very meticulous, and then discreetly try and get it over the line, often with a series of bids.

“It was either a very smart tactic because Arsenal had confidence that they would get that man, or it dragged on and we got more summer sagas. We won’t see that with Andrea Berta.”

Andrea Berta’s transfer strategy could pay big dividends for Arsenal

Berta’s approach to solving Arsenal’s striker situation feels a lot more efficient than how Edu handled things during his time at the club.

Just last year, Arsenal wanted Sesko, but once they found out that he wasn’t going to move, the plan to sign a striker was dropped.

That cost the club in the Premier League and the Champions League, and it just cannot happen again in the upcoming summer transfer window.

That is why Berta is simultaneously negotiating two deals – one for Gyokeres and the other for Sesko. That gives Arsenal a better chance of landing one of them in the coming weeks.

We don’t know what happens on the inside, but from out here, we think Berta’s approach is much better than what Edu used to do at Arsenal.