From the Telegraph
It will come as no surprise to Arsenal that Jason Ayto is of serious interest to Newcastle, and indeed to other clubs in the Premier League. At the Emirates Stadium they are well aware of the qualities that he possesses, having witnessed his rise through the ranks after first joining the club as a scout in 2014.
Ayto is not a high-profile figure. There are very few pictures of him online, and he has no public social-media presence. In this sense he is the opposite of Edu, the former Arsenal sporting director who identified Ayto’s talent before promoting him to a position of huge influence at the club.
Ayto was one of the major beneficiaries of the changes to Arsenal’s scouting network that were overseen by Edu in 2020. The Brazilian wanted a more streamlined and data-savvy recruitment department and he quickly saw the potential in the multilingual Ayto.
Such was the closeness of the two men, agents on the continent were soon referring to Ayto as “the right hand of Edu”. He began to play a major role in almost every aspect of Arsenal’s recruitment policy, with Arteta saying in November last year: “Edu and I probably got a lot of the praise, but the work behind it is done by this guy. Jason has been phenomenal.”
Edu and Mikel Arteta both rated Ayto highly Credit: Reuters/Phil Noble
Following Edu’s departure from Arsenal last season, Ayto was made interim sporting director until the appointment of Andrea Berta as sporting director in March. In that time, Ayto played a crucial role in the pursuit of Real Sociedad midfielder Martin Zubimendi, who is joining Arsenal in a deal worth more than £50 million.
Ayto was a serious contender for the sporting director role on a full-time basis and, Telegraph Sport understands, came very close to getting it before Arsenal eventually settled on the more experienced Berta.
Insiders at Arsenal always spoke positively of Ayto, who was a friendly and approachable figure at the training ground. Sources always insisted that he could also be firm when it was required.
Having lost out on the job to Berta, it was no real surprise that Ayto then left Arsenal in May to pursue other opportunities. His star continues to rise.