Arsenal chief Edu has conceded there was "no chance" the club could try and get transfer fees for the likes of Mesut Ozil, Willian and, most recently, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
The Gunners have found themselves in the unfortunate position of boasting an expensive, underperforming player on their books too many times than they'd care to admit in recent years. Even more recently, Arsenal have taken the unusual step of simply paying for these players in question to leave the Emirates before they sour the dressing room even further.
It is something Edu has discussed in a recent interview at a time when Arsenal finally appear to have culled the squad of the majority of their 'problem players' - those on high wages but contributing very little to the cause.
Speaking to The Athletic, Edu shed light on his thought process when faced with the situation of an underperforming luxury player and how he feels the best course of action is to get rid of them as soon as feasibly possible.
"If you imagine, ‘Oh, no problem: this season we’re going to expose the player a little bit more and then we sell them’ — no, be realistic. You don’t want to sell the player," the Brazilian technical director explained. "Try to avoid one more year with the problem inside, in the dressing room, expensive, not performing. Clean, take it out. Even, I’m sorry, if you have to pay. To leave is better. Because that guy is sometimes also blocking someone."
Edu did go on to admit that pitching the idea of paying a player to leave the club is to the rest of the Arsenal boardroom is not always the easiest thing to do, but a necessary evil.
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The former Arsenal midfielder does it because he recognises the likelihood of another club paying the kinds of wages Ozil, Willian or Aubameyang were on is incredibly slim.
He added: "I know it hurts, I know it’s strange when I go to the board and say, ‘Sometimes it’s better to pay a player to leave, than maintain them’. But I consider it an investment. Sometimes people say, ‘It’s expensive’. I say, ‘No, it’s investment’. But someone will pay if you sell? No, guys — if the player is above 26, 27 and not performing, big salary, no chance."
Ozil and Aubameyang were each on an astonishing weekly wage of £350,000 per week after penning huge contract extensions. Willian, meanwhile, spent just one season at the Emirates on a weekly wage of £250,000 before agreeing to terminate his contract and return to Brazil.
Arsenal ended up paying 90 per cent of Ozil's wages at Fenerbahce and were cornered into paying Aubameyang a settlement before he got his move to Barcelona in January of this year.
