Arsenal legend Tony Adams has hit out at the club’s recruitment strategy and claims both Edu and Raul Sanllehi are so ‘out of their depth’ that it ‘hurts’.
Edu was appointed as Arsenal’s first ever technical director in July 2019 and the Brazilian has been working closely with Mikel Arteta on signings, alongside director of football, Sanllehi, who arrived from Barcelona two years ago.
Sanllehi was promoted to his current role following the departure of CEO Ivan Gazidis.
Ex-Arsenal captain Adams has been an outspoken critic of the Gunners’ recent recruitment policy and delivered a damning assessment of his former club during an explosive chat with talkSPORT on Friday morning, in which he claimed that Steve Rowley’s scouting network had been ‘blown up’.
‘My fundamental issue is with recruitment,’ Adams said.
‘I think the club is going through such a recruitment issue at the moment – it’s not relying on agents.
‘That’s not the way to go; It’s not Arsenal DNA i’m afraid. I don’t like it. I’ve got to say it publicly.
‘It took Steve Rowley 40 years to build that scouting network; it did brilliantly, got the best players from around the world. And it’s just been blown up.’
Adams accused both Edu and Sanllehi of being ‘out of their depth’ and suggested the club were a long way away from being able to compete with the likes of Liverpool and Manchester City.
‘Edu, I love him, he’s a beautiful man, it’s not personal, but he has no experience of building European squads.
‘Even Raul Sanllehi, came from Barcelona, all the money in the world, it don’t look like he’s going to get money.
‘Those people are out of their depth, I’m sorry.
‘They need to build a fantastic squad that challenges for the league and it hurts.’
Adams believes he would have had a good partnership with Arsene Wenger given the chance but claims the Frenchman didn’t want him ‘anywhere near the place’.
‘I tried on several occasions to lend my services,’ he added.
‘I took it as a compliment that he didn’t want me there.
‘In 2010/11 there was a hell of a lot of pressure I don’t think he needed the previous captain.
‘We would have made a good partnership if he swallowed a little bit of his pride.
‘I could have filled the gaps in his character but it wasn’t meant to be.’
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