Ever since Edu Gaspar was linked with the Arsenal sporting director job in December/January 2018/19, the involvement of super-agent (or super intermediary if you believe what Joorabchian describes his job title as) has been inevitable. After all, Kia Joorabchian brokered Gaspar’s post-playing career moves to Corinthians, to Brazil, and then to Arsenal. I would like to note that Arsenal have ended up signing a Kia Joorabchian client in each of Edu Gaspar’s first 3 windows at the club, whilst being close to signing 2 more.
Arsenal fans tie-down Kia Joorabchian’s name to David Luiz and Willian. Both players helped Kia Joorabchian pocket ~£15 million if media reports on their deals are to be believed. I wouldn’t see any issue with an agent or intermediary getting £15 million for a pair of players with 1 Champions League, 4 Europa Leagues, 3 Premier League trophies & 3 FA Cups between them if they did anything of note at Arsenal. Luiz contributed well to Arsenal’s FA Cup run but his first year was riddled with mistakes, and for someone who will reportedly cost the club ~£200k a week with everything factored in, Willian hasn’t performed how a player on that salary should be performing, despite his upturn of form in the last 2 games.
One player that’s overlooked when looking at Kia Joorabchian is Cedric Soares. He moved from Gestifute (Jorge Mendes’ agency) to Kia Joorabchian’s agency in 2019/2020, and his deal reportedly cost Arsenal ~£5 million. This deal Is the one that sums up Kia Joorabchian, he’ll give you the type of player wanted by the manager, but he won’t give you what you need. That being said, Cedric Soares has been a good buy for Arsenal, especially for his price tag.
The ‘almost happened’ deals:
A lot of what Kia Joorabchian has done for Arsenal can be looked through the deals that almost happened, rather than the deals that did happen.
In January 2020, Arsenal were looking for a new fullback to compete with Arsenal’s first choice options. The name that Arsenal were looking at in the middle of January was PSG’s, Layvin Kurzawa. France Football & David Ornstein both reported that Arsenal were ‘close to an agreement for the player, who just joined Joorabchian’s agency at the start of January. The deal didn’t go through with the player re-signing with PSG at the end of June and Arsenal opting to get in Cedric Soares on a ‘costly’ 6-month loan instead.
Philippe Coutinho was linked with Arsenal throughout the end of the Summer 2019 transfer window & for the start of the Summer 2020 transfer window. With the rumours first intensifying during the last few days of the summer 2019 window. Bilel Ghazi of L’Equipe announced that Arsenal were set to sign him on loan before Julien Laurens shut it down hours later with Coutinho ending up at Bayern weeks later. Then In early August 2020, Philippe Coutinho was ‘spotted’ at Arsenal’s training ground ahead of negotiations for a potential loan deal/move, with nothing materialising again.
Kia Joorabchian uses Arsenal as a pawn to get what he wants in the end. Arsenal ‘interest’ in Layvin Kurzawa was used to get his client a new PSG contract once Barcelona rejected him & interest in Philippe Coutinho skyrocketed once Arsenal were touted as a possible destination for him, getting him a loan to Bayern Munich. His legacy can’t be a positive one if he’s using the club’s name to boost the reputation of his clientele.
David Luiz:
In summer 2019, Arsenal wanted a new centre-back, they were linked with Dayot Upamecano of RB Leipzig & they had put in numerous bids. On the eve of transfer deadline day (7th of August 2019), L’Equipe had announced that David Luiz ‘is seeking to force through a move to Arsenal.’ 24 hours later, David Luiz signed a 1-year contract with Arsenal (with the option to extend,) costing Arsenal £8 million & a further £6 million in agent fees.
David Luiz’s first year at Arsenal was riddled with many lows & 1 high (the FA Cup win in August.) He conceded 5 penalties for Arsenal last season, but he conceded 3 penalties for Chelsea since he joined them. He had 2 errors leading to a goal that season, but he had 2 errors leading to a goal for Chelsea in the PL. David Luiz is arguably the best ball-playing centre-back of all time, but he is one who is riddled with mistakes. Unai Emery asked for a Luiz type player, but he didn’t ask for Luiz himself. When it comes to Kia Joorabchian’s legacy, it’s a tainted one where he put the interests of himself over the greater good of the club he loves.
This reinforces my belief that Kia Joorabchian will give you the type of player wanted by the manager, but he won’t give you what you need. Arsenal wanted Dayot Upamecano for months & ended up with David Luiz, who was the type of defender they desired, but not *the* defender for them.
Cedric Soares:
January 2020, Arsenal were looking for a new fullback to provide competition to Tierney/Bellerin, and to be their backup as well. They ended up signing Cedric Soares on a 6-month loan from Southampton which cost them ~£5 million. Cedric made his debut for Arsenal against Norwich at the end of June/start of July, months after he joined Arsenal as he was battling with a knee injury that kept him out for 11 league games.
Cedric Soares was by no means a ‘bad’ signing, Arsenal bought him in to be a backup & he has done very well as a backup RB/LB. He’s amassed 30 Shot Creating Actions in 1030 minutes of football this season, with 1 SCA recorded every 34 mins. In comparison, Hector Bellerin records 1 SCA every 48 mins, so Cedric is involved in good attacking sequences more often than not, and It’s the one signing I will give credit to Kia Joorabchian for getting to Arsenal, even if he did cost too much.
A Premier League proven RB with good international experience and is willing to play as a backup is the dream, especially for ~£5 million. Kia Joorabchian’s legacy will be a tainted one, overshadowed by the failed transfer dealings & the acquisitions of David Luiz/Willian but this will be the positive I will take from it.
Willian:
In summer 2020, Arsenal were looking for a new winger. They wanted a winger who could push Nicolas Pépé after his disappointing first season at Arsenal, so Raul Sanllehi & Edu Gaspar bought in Willian on a free transfer from Chelsea in a deal that looked solid on paper. The deal was still dodgy, with ~£10 million being given to the player as a sign-on bonus, and the total value of the deal equating to around ~£220k a week if all performance-related bonuses were fulfilled (£120k a week basic salary.) One of my issues with this deal is that the contract signing between Edu Gaspar & Willian happened in Kia Joorbchian’s house rather than Highbury House/London Colney. No agent should have that much power on their hands, especially at a club like Arsenal.
Both graphs show the shot-creating & goal creating actions of Premier League Forwards in 2019/20 & 2020/21 (before the games yesterday)
Willian was bought to be the creative outlet that he was at Chelsea. He would take part in most attacks, and hopefully boost the number of chances that Aubameyang/Lacazette would receive per game, but that has not been the case. He went from being the 2nd most ‘involved’ winger in the Premier League to someone who is barely involved in his teams’ attacks. He’s on the end of goalscoring moves more than he was at Chelsea but that’s down to his performance against Fulham, as he got 3 goal creating actions (GCA) in that game alone and he hasn’t played that much in the league (46% of all minutes available for Arsenal.)
For Kia Joorabchian, the signing of Willian may be the last time Arsenal look to him to fill a gap in the squad. Willian had a great game against Leicester, but he is too inconsistent to rely on at any stretch in a 40-50 game season. Joorabchian getting him to Arsenal for one final pay-day confirms this.
Last thoughts:
No matter how you look at it, Joorabchian has a negative Arsenal legacy. There were rumors that 2 of his clients (David Luiz & Willian) were attempting to force Mikel Arteta out in the middle of December, and they have not helped Arsenal enough to justify them exerting player power on the manager. Whilst Cedric Soares has been a solid backup RB/LB for Arsenal, the cost of bringing him to Arsenal is something I will never be at ease with – having said that, there is no cause for concern regarding him yet. In the future. I do not want to see Kia Joorabchian sell/offer Arsenal a player over 28 years of age who is showing signs of immediately regressing once he puts on an Arsenal jersey.
Interested to hear your thoughts in the comments below.