🔎 Why Tomáš Rosický is the ideal Sporting Director for Arsenal | OneFootball

The resurgence of Premier League giants Arsenal in recent seasons under former club captain Mikel Arteta has been hugely impressive, with the club now dining at the top tables of English and European football again after many years in the wilderness.

For a fanbase desperate to be among major honours once again, the fan-favourite Spanish tactician remains the best man for the job in north London.

But for all the fanfare and hype surrounding recent progress in the wake of back-to-back 2nd place finishes, silverware still evades Arteta and his team, and the recent loss of Edu Gaspar to Nottingham Forest and its growing multi-club model will now prompt further questions about the club's direction.

Replacing the Brazilian has now become a top priority for the club alongside massive business across a critically important transfer window this summer.

The loss of a critical puzzle piece

Another former Arsenal player, Edu rose to prominent status at the Emirates, first as a technical director, and then as its first-ever sporting director, on the back of previous work with Brazilian side Corinthians as well as the Brazilian national team.

Under his recruitment leadership alongside Arteta, Edu helped rebuild Arsenal from the ground up, not just in sporting terms, but also off the pitch. Now, the very pillars propping up the club's new era are due in large part to much of the great work done by him and others.

Much of who Arsenal recruit, and how, has been built on what was partially Edu's vision and the manner that he negotiated. The captures of Gabriel Martinelli, Gabriel Magalhães, Martin Ødegaard, Declan Rice, William Saliba, Leandro Trossard, and others, were all under Edu's watch.

Homing in on particular profiles which fall in line with the needs for not just Arteta's systemic requirements, but in terms of cultural fit at the club, as well as players with the right personality, has become a cornerstone of Arsenal's recruitment remit.

But recent events at the club and a poor January window have now thrust the conversation about who should replace Edu to the forefront of the minds of the majority of the fanbase.

Having left the club short of numbers and quality depth in forward areas, that reality was compounded by the news that Kai Havertz will now miss the rest of the season after the German international tore his hamstring during the club's Dubai retreat.

Interim sporting director Jason Ayto, who has previously received positive soundbites from Arteta regarding the work he has done, is yet to exhibit the smart decision-making required to move the club forward.

Despite considering possible winter moves for a string of players, most notably Benjamin Šeško, Ollie Watkins, Mathys Tel, and Álvaro Morata, Arsenal ultimately did not do what needed to be done when it came to protecting the integrity of the senior squad across the rigorous demands of a campaign that features a push on two key fronts.

While Ayto may have the potential backing of Arteta and the club on paper, it appears to the naked eye that he is incapable of getting the job done at critical moments. This becomes even more relevant given the gravity of work the club must consider in the summer.

It has been widely discussed that Arsenal will be after a centre-forward, a versatile attacker, as well as potentially a goalkeeper, a young(er) midfield profile, and another defender. This, combined with growing confidence that a deal for Real Sociedad's Martín Zubimendi will also be finalised, means that whoever is to become the newest member of the brain trust must not only hit the ground running but will be taking on huge responsibilities.

In that light, it may come as no surprise that yet another former Arsenal player could be the next man in to replace Edu at the end of the season; Tomáš Rosický.

Cult hero status

For base value, the former Gunners midfielder does not come with the gravitas that some fans would prefer. However, when considering his body of work and his connection to the club, Rosický could very well be just the tonic.

After a career at the highest level that saw the Prague-born maestro star for both Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal with aplomb, not to mention his importance to the national team, the 44-year-old immediately moved from the pitch to hierarchical positions not long after his retirement in December 2017.

First, as assistant to Sparta Prague's then-sporting director Zdeněk Ščasný, and a year later taking over the role as his own when Ščasný became head coach at the club.

Rosický's teething period was a difficult one given his relative inexperience, but once he got to grips with both the demands and the realities of the position, the Czechia icon took to it with both hands while excelling along the way.

Under his charge, not only did Letenští return to the Champions League for the first time in nearly 20 years while also re-ascending to the top of the Chance Liga in back-to-back seasons between 2022-24, but Rosický quickly found his voice both regarding player recruitment and player sales. Both aspects of the role are critical for Arsenal moving forward given their shortcomings in the recent past.

In that light, Rosický is not too dissimilar to Bayer Leverkusen icon Simon Rolfes; another name that popped up when Arsenal began to explore options to succeed Edu.

Rolfes's body of work in North Rhine-Westphalia has been nothing short of exceptional, and his partnership with Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso mirrors what Rosický would potentially bring to the table in the north of England's capital.

A triumvirate worthy of the Emirates

The intricate choreography that includes a manager, sporting director, and head of your youth sector coming together in unison must be supremely timed on the dancefloor if a club is to sustain itself at the very highest level.

Another former Arsenal player, Per Mertesacker, has guided the youth ranks at Hale End through a massive reshuffle that culminated in promotions of budding stars Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly to potential stardom, and it remains vital that decisions across the senior team consider homegrown resources.

This is something that Rosický did rather well in the Bohemian capital, with Sparta not only pressing forward in their ability to develop young players while giving them pathways to senior football but also selling assets well to maximise what an academy often is used for; supplemental income.

While we all love stories of a local lad who turns into a club hero, the vast majority of youth products from a club inevitably are sold for full profit; unless you're Barcelona and La Masia is but a short walk away.

But there certainly can be a fair degree of criticism when it comes to Arsenal's lacklustre record at selling young players - or indeed even loaning them out - and that has become evident recently at the loss of Ayden Heaven and Chido Obi-Martin to rivals Manchester United.

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Adding to Arthur Okonkwo's departure on a free transfer in the summer to feel good story Wrexham after a very successful loan at the STōK Cae Ras, it highlights a troubling trend that has emerged where Arsenal appear to simply accept academy products leaving for free rather than looking to seek compensation.

If you are going lose the best and brightest in your pipeline, then guaranteeing a financial benefit should be paramount. However, the club have improved player sales from the senior ranks more recently when the likes of Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, and Folarin Balogun all departed for a combined ~£75m across the two previous summer windows.

As mentioned earlier, that trend must continue in the coming summer, with Arsenal once again slated to overturn quite a handful of senior players and refresh via the market. What they need are players that not only tick the boxes that Arteta demands regarding profile and tactical fit, but also players who have what it takes to make it at the club. Who better to offer further understanding of that importance beyond Arteta than Rosický, a player who spent a decade in red and white?

When considering those key remits, Rosický has proven to sell well (albeit on a smaller scale in terms of figures) when Sparta saw Adam Hložek, Dávid Hancko, and Tomáš Čvančara move on to bigger clubs in Leverkusen, Feyenoord, and Borussia Mönchengladbach respectively.

Moreover, how Rosický replaced key losses via the market while keeping club finances in mind and providing the player personnel to push for league honours, offers a proving ground moment when it comes to the challenges that lie ahead for Arsenal.

Given the trajectory the club is now on, the goal to push - and ultimately win - major pieces of silverware with Arteta at the helm, the moving pieces around the Spanish tactician all need to be in lock-step, and bringing in a director with an existing body of work combined with previous understanding on and off the pitch would be the better part of prudence.

And with the club entering a critical period this summer, every decision must be spot on; from the sporting director to player recruitment.

To bungle it now could have serious consequences for the future, and also undermine all the progress made during Arteta's spell at the Emirates so far.

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