In April, a structural reshuffle was confirmed to provide Edu more support across Arsenal’s men’s, women’s and academy teams. Jason Ayto, who began scouting for the club in 2014, was appointed assistant sporting director and James Ellis, who joined from Fulham in 2021, was promoted to head of recruitment. Ayto and Ellis work closely with Arsenal’s analytical team on existing targets as well as bringing up their own discoveries that fit the specific criteria laid out by Arteta and Edu.
The link to the board then comes from executive vice-chair Tim Lewis, so bids for targets can be given the OK. Director of football operations Richard Garlick then handles the logistics of deals with the club’s legal department, taking care of contracts for ingoing and outgoing players.
Beyond that, Garlick tends to be the more day-to-day conduit between the club and the player/their agent during a move, with Arteta and Edu involved in initial conversations.
Paris Saint-Germain will refuse to negotiate the transfer of their wantaway forward Kylian Mbappe with Spanish rivals Real Madrid according to several media outlets including Mundo Deportivo.