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Arsenal looks set to bring back an old club favorite to fill a key front office opening.
According to reports out of Brazil, Arsenal are set to hire former midfielder Edu Gaspar, commonly referred to as Edu, as the team’s new sporting director. The position had been open since the departure of Sven Mislintat earlier this season. Edu is currently the technical coordinator for the Brazilian Men’s National Team, and reportedly in the past has worked as a sporting director for his boyhood club, Corinthians.
[READ: Pochettino could leave Spurs if they win UCL]
Edu played four seasons at Arsenal, from 2001 through 2005, and played a key role in Arsenal’s Invincibles era, especially the undefeated 2003-2004 season.
On its face, the move is a smart one for Arsenal. The Gunners are desperate to return to its old glory and there’s nothing better than bringing in a person who understands what it means to play for the club. In addition, with Edu’s long career in England and Spain, he’s surely developed plenty of contacts that can help him in making new signings and scouting potential new stars.
Additionally, he still speaks English and along with Spanish from his time in Valencia and his native Portuguese, he can cover a large swath of potential talent.
On the down side, Edu has reportedly said he won’t take over at Arsenal until after the Copa America. The Copa America is scheduled to run from June 14 through July 7, meaning that Edu likely wouldn’t join Arsenal officially until after the transfer window would open, giving him precious few weeks to make signings this summer.
Additionally, Brazil is considered one of the favorites for the Copa America on home soil, and anything short of a title will be a disappointment. As such, there is plenty of pressure on him and the coaching staff to make sure they pick the right 23-man squad.
With Edu not joining until late, it could mean that Arsenal manager Unai Emery may have to make many early summer transfer moves on his own.
With Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur into the Champions League final for the first Premier League duo to match up in the finale of the competition, Arsenal and Chelsea can make further history by marking England as the first country to make up all four participants of the two European championship games.
Arsenal travels to Valencia holding a 3-1 lead after the home leg, with the Spanish side clinging to their away goal. A 2-0 victory would do the ticket for Valencia, otherwise they would need to beat Arsenal outright on aggregate to win in the 90 minutes of regulation.
[ LIVE: Europa League scores ]
Chelsea, meanwhile, hosts German side Eintracht Frankfurt at Stamford Bridge after a 1-1 first leg result on the road. The away goal proves precious to the Blues who are yet to be beaten at any point in the Europa League this season. They have been even stronger at home, winning all six home Europa League matches to this point, including four clean sheets. It also could be Eden Hazard‘s last home game for Chelsea as all signs point to a move to Real Madrid this summer.
LINEUPS
Chelsea: Arrizabalaga; Azpilicueta, Christensen, David Luiz, Emerson; Kovacic, Jorginho, Loftus-Cheek; Willian, Giroud, Hazard.
Bench: Caballero, Alonso, Cahill, Zappacosta, Barkley, Pedro, Higuain.
Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp; Abraham, Hinteregger, Falette; Hasebe; Da Costa, Gacinovic, Rode, Kostic; Rebic, Jovic.
Bench: Ronnow, Chandler, Haller, Fernandes, de Guzman, Ndicka, Paciencia.
Valencia: Neto; Piccini, Paulista, Garay, Gaya; Wass, Parejo, Coquelin, Guedes; Gameiro, Rodrigo.
Bench: Domenech, Roncaglia, Soler, Diakhaby, Lato, Torres, Mina.
Arsenal: Cech; Monreal, Mustafi, Sokratis, Maitland-Niles; Torreira, Xhaka; Kolasinac, Özil, Aubameyang; Lacazette.
Bench: Leno, Mustafi, Elneny, Guendouzi, Iwobi, Mkhitaryan, Nketiah.
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With Tottenham and Liverpool both reaching the Champions League final in stunning fashion, fans were left even more euphoric when they received an email saying they won a dream trip to the event.
British online retail company Zavvi ran a competition for a trip to Madrid for the Champions League final, complete with flights, hotel accommodations, two tickets to the game, and cash to spend. With two Premier League sides reaching the final for the first time ever, there was heightened interest in the competition domestically with fans of both sides hoping to secure a dream trip to watch their team compete.
Unfortunately, a technical error led to every single participant receiving an email indicating they won the prize.
The company briefly tweeted an apology, before taking it down after being bombarded with abuse. The tweet read, “Apologies, we’re aware of a problem regarding the recent Mastercard Competition. We seem to have had some technical issues and we’re currently looking into this.”
According to the Liverpool Echo, there were hundreds of Liverpool fans among those who received the email. “We’re extremely sorry to have got our loyal customers’ hopes up,” a spokesperson for Zavvi told the report, “however due to human error a mistake was made with our mail-out and unfortunately there is only one winner of the tickets.”
Mastercard, the sponsor of the competition, said in a statement, “We are extremely disappointed with today’s events and our sympathies go to the many people who were wrongly contacted by Zavvi in connection to their competition. We have asked Zavvi to clarify how they are resolving as a matter of urgency.”
Fans took to Twitter to share how much the trip would have meant to them and how they felt after it was cruelly ripped away. They can probably relate to the feelings of Ajax or Barcelona fans, who saw their teams cough up leads in two of the most epic comebacks the competition has ever seen.
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With Liverpool and Tottenham both shocking the Champions League universe, it’s back to the Premier League for one more week to…
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