Interview

Edu – We are 100 per cent committed to youth

With Arsenal already having made the first moves in the transfer window, our technical director Edu has outlined our recruitment strategy this summer.

Brazil youth international forward Marquinhos was the first to arrive in June. The 19 year old has joined from Sao Paulo, and will seen as very much one for the future.

More recently we completed the signing of Portugal under-21 international midfielder Fabio Vieira. The 22 year old was an integral player at Porto, and was named Player of the Tournament at the recent European Under-21 Championships in Hungary and Slovenia.

In addition, our Hale End graduate Eddie Nketiah (23) has recently signed a new long-term contract with the club, after scoring 10 times last season. So is this investment in youth set to continue to be a major part of the club’s plans?

“One hundred per cent,” Edu confirmed. “That has to be Arsenal.

“We have to go into the market for exciting players with the right age, right attitude and right mentality. We want to see a club like Arsenal with a young squad, an exciting squad with a big, big future because as I said last summer, the idea is to have a young squad. We want to give them the opportunity to play together for two, three, four, five or six seasons.

“We still have a lot to do but we are really excited to start the season with the players we target and the players we want to sign.”

Edu added that the work in identifying potential targets is ongoing, and there has been plenty of planning over the past few months.

“This summer is just the consequence of what we've been working on a lot, to try to find the best players, the best targets,” he said.

“We identify really what we need in the squad, so when we started this summer, we are prepared.

“Fabio is a good example because we moved quickly because we prepared to get Fabio a long time ago and then when we face it, we make things happen.”

Speaking to Arsenal Media recently, our technical director finished by saying he expects the club to announce more transfer news soon.

“Yes I think we still have some good conversations and positive conversations to be fair. I hope we can give to the fans some good news.”

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