Arsenal have perfect sporting director blueprint as another former star emerges to replace Edu

Arsenal are still reeling from the shock decision of Edu Gaspar to resign from his role as sporting director. The Brazilian has reportedly agreed to join Evangelos Marinakis’ multi-club model to head up operations and oversee many different sides.

This has left the Gunners without a key figure ahead of the upcoming transfer windows. Newly-promoted managing director Richard Garlick is heading up the process to replace Edu with input from Mikel Arteta.

Several names have already been mentioned but Footmercato have claimed that former Gunners midfielder Tomáš Rosický is being considered for the role. Since he left the club in 2016 after making 247 appearances for the club, he returned to his former side Sparta Prague in the Czech Republic for one final season before retiring.

He would join the executive setup the following year in 2018 before taking on the role of sporting director later the same year. He has overseen quite the rise of one of Europe’s sleeping giants.

To get a better understanding of his work, football.london spoke to chief sports writer for Seznam Zprávy, Martin Vait. An expert in Czech football and Martin has very kindly given a thorough overview of Rosický’s candidacy.

“Tomáš Rosický has grown into his role slowly - at first he couldn't find the right coach and a balance between players,” he said. “He inherited an unmotivated and overpaid squad full of experienced players which was very hard to ship out.

“Sparta's scouting system didn't really seem up to scratch as Slavia were overrunning their opponent and chose better fits into their system of play, Sparta were lacking behind in fitness, and there were injury crises. He also seemed indecisive about the future of some of the key players and coaches - under his management Václav Jílek was sacked just one game into the spring season, after more than two months of preparation time that could have gone on with another coach.”

“His comments at the time were very general and vague and reports also varied whether he really made the top decisions himself and was fully behind the choice of one of their previous coaches. There is a lot more that was going on behind the scenes that he was having a hard time with but to make things brief it all got to a breaking point where he offered his resignation, which was rejected.”

Clearly, this was a cornerstone moment in his time with the club. Martin adds that from this point forward, the prospects of the club changed under the former Gunners midfielder’s greater influence on decisions.

“Things got cleared up and he seemed to have a full control over the sporting side of the club afterwards. He chose better physically equipped players and crucially he chose Brian Priske with whom came a whole different culture to the club that Rosický fully supported and craved for a long time.

“His old mate Tomáš Sivok was also a crucial appointment as a sporting manager who worked as his extended hand into the dressing room and a support for the coaches, there was an incredible step up in terms of motivation among players, professionalism, analysis in terms of matches but also recruitment, and foremost in fitness thanks to Christian Clarup, their head of performance. Rosický also got a lot more articulate and forthcoming as he found his feet, he crucially showed support for Priske even if his start wasn't as good and then it was all building together.

“The blend of technical and physical ability that Sparta were able to produce was probably the highest from any Czech team in memory."

Arsenal fans will of course want to see more than just astute decision-making in terms of recruitment. There are also demands for a strong attitude to sales and also in helping manage and bring through talent from the academy.

Adam Hlozek is perhaps one of their most well-known exports, and a player who was linked to Arsenal. Rosický helped earn the club a significant fee and an impressive 30% sell-on clause too.

Since Edu took over at Arsenal with Arteta too, the club has felt far more united with work undertaken to try and improve the match-going experience. Rosický too is credited by Martin as his work having a similar impact on match attendances.

“Sparta are also historically one of the most productive and prolific teams in Europe in terms of youth development and that's something that Rosický emphasizes as well. The last two transfer windows haven't worked as smoothly so far, as we can see with the recent results.

“But the overall success - two back-to-back titles (and the first one after nine years without the biggest trophy in Czech football) plus a return to the Champions League main phase after nineteen years, the club's biggest target - speaks for itself. The club now is in a very healthy position.

“It rejuvenated its fanbase, the stands are sold out and very positive, which has never been the case, up until now it seemed that Sparta were finally able to win with a foreign coach and set-up, which looked impossible for some just a couple of years ago. And Rosický looks like a quiet lynchpin of the whole organisation, he used his contacts in Europe very well for recruitment etc.

“Whether he would thrive at Arsenal I really don't know because it's a totally different size of the club and I suspect the range of his duties would be a bit different. But he showed he can learn a lot, he can adapt, he's hard-working and intelligent - which are always very good signs for success.”

There is yet to be any clarification on if Rosický is a leading contender nor if the former Arsenal man would be keen on taking the role, leaving his work in Prague. Arsenal are not in a rush to make a call and want to ensure the decision is correct.

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