Fabrizio Romano reveals ‘TOP CANDIDATE’ for vital Arsenal role

Robin Bairner

• 3 Mar 2025 02:10 CST
• 3 min read

Fabrizio Romano says that Arsenal have a new leading candidate to replace Edu at the club.

Along with Mikel Arteta, the Brazilian masterminded some of the Gunners’ most important deals of recent years in his role as sporting director.

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Edu, though, announced his resignation from Arsenal in November in order to hook up with Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, where he will play a role in growing the success of the Greek’s network of clubs.

Numerous high-profile options have been considered to replace him at the Emirates Stadium.

Tomas Rosicky, currently at Sparta Prague, confirmed last week that there had been interest in him, while Roberto Olabe of Real Sociedad and Monaco’s Thiago Scuro are other names linked with the role.

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Romano says that the unattached Andrea Berta is Arsenal’s top option for the club.

“Understand Andrea Berta is now the top candidate to become new Arsenal director in order to replace Edu,” he tweeted.

“Discussions already took place, Berta left Atletico after building the team with key signings in the recent years.

“Talks at advanced stage, not done/sealed yet.”

Berta with a strong transfer track record

Berta’s strategy at Atletico Madrid saw the club complete a range of signings, from high-profile deals to bargain pickups, and this blend is doubtless one that attracts Arsenal.

Among his most notable signings were Luis Suarez on a free transfer from Barcelona and Antoine Griezmann (twice).

Equally, Atleti have been underpinned for the last decade by goalkeeper Jan Oblak and centre-back Jose Maria Gimenez, who signed for a combined €17m from Benfica and Danubio respectively.

It is this type of deal that will have attracted Arsenal, who have focused primarily on young talent in recent years, though there appears a growing appreciation at the Emirates Stadium that a big-name attacker is required to elevate the level of the team to become potential title winners.