Photo: Arsenal already have Edu’s instant replacement at the club – View

Arsenal fans have been left shocked after reports emerged on Monday morning that sporting director Edu Gaspar is set to leave the club.

The former Gunners star returned to the North London club to become their first-ever technical director in July 2019 before getting promoted and becoming their first-ever sporting director in November 2022.

Edu has been responsible for the recent change in fortunes Arsenal have experienced on the pitch, and getting the perfect replacement could be tough for the club.

However, it appears the Gunners already have his replacement at the club.

Arsenal appointed their former executive James King as their new director of football operations last month, and he could be taking up the role of sporting director or simply continuing in his current capacity and taking on the responsibilities Edu is leaving behind.

He was the senior legal counsel for football operations at Arsenal before leaving to join the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) as general counsel in May 2022.

King joined the North Londoners in 2016, helping out with commercial deals for their legal team before moving to their football operations department in 2018.

He worked with Arsenal’s men’s, women’s and academy teams during his first spell and he could be perfect for the sporting director role.

The director of football also doubles as the sporting director at other clubs, and King could be getting looked at for the job given that he already knows all about the Gunners and has been in their system for a while.

Edu was responsible for implementing the footballing philosophy at Arsenal, managing the promotion and development of the best academy players, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the first-team in depth and leading their recruitment efforts in the transfer market.

King could be more than willing and ready to step into his shoes, and it will be interesting to see what Arsenal decide when Edu moves on.