Edu Gaspar split opinion at Arsenal before leaving his role as sporting director at the Emirates.
After a lot of thought, Arsenal named Andrea Berta as the club’s new sporting director following Edu’s shock departure in November 2024.
The Brazilian spent two years as the Gunners’ sporting director after his role as technical director was upgraded in 2022.
With the summer transfer window in sight, Mikel Arteta will lean on Berta to navigate the market to replenish the Arsenal squad, where the Italian will be expected to repair some of Edu’s faults.
Mika Biereth believes he could’ve helped Arsenal’s striker problem
Time has proven how much of a failure the 2024 summer transfer window was at Arsenal, and not only due to the reluctance to bolster the Gunners’ attack.
There were some controversial sales signed off by Edu during that market, with the most prominent loss proving to be the departure of Mika Biereth in July.
Biereth, who was described as ‘unbelievable’ at Arsenal, was sold to Sturm Graz last summer, and then moved on to AS Monaco in January 2025, where he’s since thrived.
Arteta has had to watch Biereth’s record-breaking form from afar while his own side struggles to locate a reliable goalscorer, which the 22-year-old recently commented on.
Speaking to BBC Sport, the Monaco talisman had his say on whether he could’ve helped Arteta this season, and whether him staying at the club could’ve bolstered Arsenal’s title chances.
“Yeah, I think not only am I thinking that – maybe a few other people are thinking that. I think that is just how football works,” Biereth admitted.
“When I was there, I was not really getting a feeling that there was an opportunity for me. I didn’t want to wait around and hope for something lucky. I’d rather go out and prove myself, and I think I have done that to a certain extent so far.”
Having scored 13 goals in 16 appearances for Monaco since his January transfer, the former Hale End star is certainly right, having found a place to prove himself in the French top tier.
“Football is a weird sport, you can always think ‘what if I didn’t do this or what if I didn’t do that?’,” he continued.
“The way I think about stuff is that I can’t keep thinking about ‘what if I stayed?’ I’m really happy here at Monaco and playing really well, and we have just secured Champions League football for next season.”
Biereth was grateful for his time at Arsenal, but it’s clear that perhaps the Gunners are missing their former player more than he is reminiscing about his time at the Emirates.
How much profit Arsenal generated from Biereth sale
There wasn’t much Arteta could’ve done to keep Biereth, who wanted to leave Arsenal to find a greater role at another club.
The striker didn’t want to put pen to paper on a new deal as he saw no way into the first team, which has resulted in being a bitter pill for Arsenal to swallow.
Performing as one of the most clinical strikers in Europe, scoring more goals than any other player in the top five leagues, bar Kylian Mbappe, it has become apparent how Edu mishandled his transfer.
Arsenal sold Biereth to Sturm Graz for just £4m and went on to earn an additional £2m from the forward’s transfer to Monaco only months later.
Profiting only £6m from the blossoming talent’s sale leaves a sour taste for Arsenal from the transfer, with the other being what Biereth could’ve offered to Arteta over the 2024/25 campaign.
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