Thread by @ZachLowy

Arsenal have officially appointed Edu Gaspar as their technical director. Here’s a quick thread on who Gaspar is and what to expect from the Brazilian:

-Gaspar started his playing career off in Corinthians at 5 years old, natural since he grew up in São Paulo. Won the Brasileirão twice as well as the Club World Cup.

In 2000, he was set to join Arsenal, but it was put on hold after it was found he had a fake Portuguese passport.

-He was also pursued by Barça, but he preferred to join Arsenal, as revealed in an interview in 2003, “because of the speed in which they did business.” However, the problem remained with the passport. He had to qualify for an EU passport, helped by his father’s Italian blood.

-He started his time off at Arsenal terribly. The English season was midway through, Gaspar was just getting back from the Brazilian holiday season, and Petit had just left for Barcelona. Despite having not trained in a while, Wenger started him soon, and he did poorly.

He ended up getting injured, and a week after he got to England, his sister died in a car accident.

Overall, he was injury-prone at Arsenal, but he still became one of Wenger’s favorites. He left to Valencia, where he was often injured, before finally returning to Corinthians.

At 32, he decided to retire. He founded TimberTech, a company that imports sustainable flooring imported by an American firm. The flooring is made by a combination of recycled plastic and wood.

“The resistance is in the plastic, but the texture is im the wood.”

Weeks after retiring, club president Andrés Sanchez asked him to be Director of Football. He completely overhauled Corinthians, who were just coming off a promotion into the top division. He transformed O Timão, bringing in Paolo Guerrero and Paulinho and others.

Corinthians ended up winning the domestic title in his first year, as well as the Club World Cup. Edu helped push through youth from the academy like Malcom; he improved the long-term health at the club.

He helped bring in Gabriel Martinelli, he could do the same with Malcom.

Eventually, Edu and Tite decided to leave Corinthians, with Tite being offered the opportunity to replace Dunga as Brazil manager. They’ve done quite well so far, and Edu capped off his Brazil adventure on Sunday with Brazil winning their first Copa América since 2007.

And so concludes our [not so short] thread on Edu Gaspar. A self-taught man who knows three languages, but most importantly, knows the language of business. Arsenal are getting a gem here.

One last note re: Malcom. Tite and Edu worked closely together at Brazil + Corinthians. When Malcom left for Bordeaux at 18, Tite begged him to stay for 1-2 more years, but Malcom had already decided.

Tite began to sob and say “You are a guy for whom I have a lot of affection.”

“I have a lot of affection for you because I know your origins.”

Malcom grew up in the dangerous neighborhood of Vila Formosa and wanted to improve his mother’s fortunes, as his father abandoned him when he was a kid.

“I am going to root for you,” said Tite.