Arsenal facing fight to keep hold of Edu with European giants looking to snatch technical director away from Emirates

ARSENAL face a fight to keep hold of technical director Edu, according to reports.

The 44-year-old Brazilian joined the Gunners back in 2019 and has thrived in the role at the Emirates.

He has been widely praised for the appointment of manager Mikel Arteta, as well as the club’s impressive recruitment.

Arsenal currently sit top of the Premier League table after nine wins from their opening 10 matches.

And according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Edu is attracting interest from several European clubs.

The former Valencia midfielder’s name is said to have been “discussed internally” as a suitable technical director – although the identity of the teams are not known.

However, Edu is considered to be “100 per cent focused on the Arsenal project”, with the club seeing him as a “key figure” in their plans for the future.

In the summer, the South American told SunSport the Gunners were not simply going to settle for a place in the top four as he outlined ambitious plans.

Edu said: “Arsenal should not be building to just fight for fourth. A club of our size cannot accept that.

“That’s what really hurt when I returned three years ago. I was asking, ‘What’s happening here? Everybody is comfortable and they’re all OK with that?’

“Well, f*** you, because that’s not the mentality of this club. I want everyone to feel, ‘F*****g hell, now we are really going to go for things’.

“So we needed a squad with personalities that say, ‘I am not losing this game — I will kill someone first but I don’t lose’.

“And this summer I think we’ve added more players with that kind of character.”

Arsenal signed five new players ahead of the new season – Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner and Marquinhos.

And Arteta’s men now look ready to compete for the title as they have opened up a four-point lead over Manchester City.

Edu will be hoping Arsenal can build on their positive start as he looks to add to the FA Cup they won during his first season at the club.