Arsenal are in advanced talks with Andrea Berta as they seek a permanent successor to sporting director , it has been claimed.

Edu, who also spent time with the Gunners as a player, left his post with the club before the turn of the year. Jason Ayto has taken over the Brazilian's duties on an interim basis, but a new permanent appointment is expected before the end of March.

Former star was one of those linked after Edu's departure in November, but revealed he . Now, Berta looks to be the frontrunner.

Berta, 53, has spent more than a decade with - the majority of that as the club's sporting director. The Italian left Atleti in January, though, and appears to be close to a first foray into English football.

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According to , talks between and Berta are at an "advanced" stage. He is described as the Gunners' top target, and is one of a number of names to be mentioned over the last few months along with Sparta Prague's Rosicky and Monaco's Thiago Scuro.

Berta began his career in his native Italy more than 20 years ago, with Genoa and Parma among the clubs on his CV. He joined Atleti as technical director in 2012 and moved up to sporting director five years later.

During his time with the Spanish club, he has overseen a number of important signings. These included the players who helped Diego Simeone's side win in 2020-21, as well as the current squad - including summer signings Julian Alvarez and - currently vying for another league title.

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Edu has yet to take up a new post since leaving North London, but has been strongly linked with a move to Evangelos Marinakis' group of clubs. The Greek businessman is the owner of Olympiacos in his homeland and in the , among other clubs, and .

"Edu was a very good player and also a very good sporting and technical director," Marinakis told over the winter. "I have a lot of respect for him. The results we saw over the years at Arsenal were very good and he has done an excellent job at Arsenal.

"What I can say is that I would like to cooperate with him on a much bigger project, a global project," he added. "I'm optimistic that in case all this goes ahead, it will be another successful venture for both of us. I'm very optimistic about it, but we need to see how this will be developed and will be finalised, if and when time allows."

He also agreed that the pursuit of Edu was a sign of ambition. "Yes. And I think that there are a lot of people that want to cooperate with us and work with us and that means that they respect us and they appreciate what we do," he continued. "It gives us satisfaction that what we do is something that is appealing to very good people in the industry."

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