Arsenal ‘eye sporting director who discovered Kylian Mbappe to replace Edu’ following Nottingham Forest move

ARSENAL are reportedly lining up a swoop for Luis Campos as their new sporting director.

The Gunners have a role to fill upstairs following the shock departure of club legend Edu Gaspar.

The Invincibles title winner helped transform Mikel Arteta’s side into title contenders.

But he stunned Arsenal by announcing his exit earlier this month to take up a position as chief executive of Nottingham Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis’ footballing empire.

The Gunners now lack a driving spark in the transfer market.

And with Arteta’s men already nine points behind league leaders Liverpool, January reinforcements may be needed.

Sky Sports claims a number of names are under consideration, including Bayer Leverkusen’s Simon Rolfes and ex-Real Sociedad man Roberto Olabe.

But at the top of Arsenal’s list is none other than Paris Saint-Germain chief Campos.

The Portuguese scout supremo currently has the title of ‘Football Advisor’ at PSG.

Campos joined the French champs in 2022, two years after leaving Lille, while still working as an external advisor with Spanish side Celta Vigo.

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And he has overseen a whopping £640million-worth of spending in five transfer windows, bringing in stars like Vitinha, Ousmane Dembele and Randal Kolo Muani.

Before PSG, Celta and Lille, where he signed Victor Osimhen, Campos made his name as sporting director at Monaco between 2013 and 2016.

In that time he helped them sign huge names like Bernardo Silva, Radamel Falcao and James Rodriguez.

And a year after Campos left, Monaco stormed to the Ligue 1 title with a team full of his signings also including Fabinho, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Thomas Lemar.

Campos was also in charge when a certain Kylian Mbappe first joined Monaco’s academy in the summer of 2013.

And Arsenal could now be the next stop on his footballing journey.

Campos’ contract at Paris Saint-Germain expires in 2025, and there have so far been no talks to keep him in the French capital beyond that.

It remains to be seen whether Arsenal, should they decide Campos is indeed their man, move now or wait until the end of the season.

But it’s understood they are in no rush to appoint Edu’s successor, with his No2 Jason Ayto and head of recruitment James Ellis currently tiding things over.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk