Baku, May 2019. A London derby in a Europa League final, and as it turned out, a chastening one for Arsenal. Beaten 4–1 as Eden Hazard shined, Unai Emery's team returned to England with tails between legs, falling victim, again, to the brilliant Belgian. It was his final appearance for Chelsea, one of his finest ever and perhaps his last great career performance. He always saved his best for Arsenal.
Bukayo Saka featured in the losing squad that night. At 17 and in his first season with the senior team, he was an unused substitute, watching on as another dreadful show on the road unfolded in front of him, powerless to change it. Now 23, Saka is wearing the captain's armband, is among the league's best and is the only current member of the squad to represent Arsenal in Azerbaijan.
The picture is different today and what's happened since is remarkable. A careful, sometimes brutal, squad rebuilding process in over five seasons has revolutionized a club at one point known better for the jokes made about them online. The personnel has been stripped and built back and the attitude is different. No longer are Arsenal the soft pushovers they'd evaporated into, but instead the modern example for lost big clubs to follow of how to get it right, awaiting their crowning moment and a first Premier League title in 21 years. This was supposed to be the year, with Manchester City in regression on the pitch and fighting 115 charges over alleged financial breaches off it, having come close twice before.
Edu Gaspar has been the one constant in the five years of growth between now and then. Behind every major decision, big or small, simple or painful, cheap or expensive. Mikel Arteta aside, there is no figure at Arsenal more deserving of credit for the work they've put in to turn the tide or for their vision of how to get there. Now Edu is leaving and Evangelos Marinakis's network of clubs, Nottingham Forest included, look to be getting one of the best. The reasons aren't clear at this point nor the timescale, but his departure is, from the outside, a hammer blow to progress just when it was time to shine.
Appointed July 2019 as technical director, the former Brazilian international midfielder—a member of the 2004 Invincibles that set a standard in English soccer—laid the foundation for what you see today. He spoke before the season began of making simple decisions for the good of the club in the long-term and his idea behind profiling players on three elements: their age, their salary, their performance. "If you have a player over 26-27 years old, you need attention. If his salary is high, you need attention. If he's not performing, you're dead," he told in August.
It's a mantra you see stamped all over modern Arsenal. Big names and high earners saw contracts cancelled and financial blows taken. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Mesut Özil and Alexandre Lacazette were just some to leave on free transfers to be replaced by hunger, ambition, talent, potential.
Club captain Martin Ødegaard was signed from Real Madrid, superstar teenager unwanted in the Spanish capital, transformed into a Premier League leading example. William Saliba signed a long-term contract two weeks after Edu and was repeatedly loaned out to morph into the defensive monster he's become since breaking into the first team. Saka, meanwhile, is the heartbeat of the club, seeing every part of the journey from Baku to modern day. They are supported by a series of quality acquisitions around them in the same image, with Declan Rice the highest profile and most expensive.
Edu has had his fingerprints over everything good about Arsenal in the last five years, and faced with his departure ahead of them, those now making the decisions about how to replace him don't have to look too far deep into Arsenal's history for an example of how to get it wrong. Sven Mislintat's head of recruitment role hasn't aged fondly. Other Premier League clubs have provided countless examples in recent history of how bad it can get following the wrong squad building model and principles.
Arsenal now embark on as important a decision as they've had to make in years, whether that's through a new appointment or internal restructure. Whether it's Arteta's power that grows or an external voice added to the mix, a club that only had to concentrate on its on-field performance because of installation of great processes now has to think about more.
The picture has become more concerning since Saturday afternoon, and there are now more problems to contend with outside of remedying defeat at Newcastle, like being winless in three league games and seven points off the pace to Liverpool.
Patrice Evra said, "Watching Arsenal is like watching Netflix, you always wait for the next season." Fumble the decision on Edu's replacement and there won't always be a next season.
