Arsenal parted ways with sports director assistant Jason Eight in May after Andrea Berta arrives, and he is now ready to join Brighton and replace David Weir
Former Arsenal assistant sports director Jason Eight will become Brighton’s technical director following David Weir’s surprise departure.
Brighton announced Friday that Weir left the club shortly after the summer transfer window was over. The former Rangers, Everton and Scottish defender have been the technical director of the Seagulls since May 2022, when he took over Dan Ashworth for Newcastle.
The 55-year-old left after he was in charge of recruiting Brighton players and coached the summer transfer for around £72 million. Charalampos Kostoulas, Maxim De Cuyper, Tom Watson, Diego Coppola, Do-Young Yun, Nils Ramming and Olivier Boscagli have been signed to the Fabian Hurzeler team.
Weir will be replaced by Eight, who has not been working since leaving Arsenal in May after Andrea Berta arrives as sports director. According to Daily Mail, Ayto was fighting to become Newcastle’s new sports director, but will instead be confirmed in Brighton in the coming days.
read more: Arsenal News: William Saliba’s injury update given to Rio Ferdinand for changing forecastsread more: Mikel Arteta shares his promises for the Arsenal Trophy, so he clarifies his feelings to Ange Postecoglou
Eight spent nearly a decade at Arsenal, working for former sports director Edu before the Brazilian headed to Nottingham Forest. He was a gunner and temporary interim sports director, and was taken on a full-time role before former Atletico Madrid man Berta took over.
Weir’s departure from Brighton was a surprise, but the owner’s chairman Tony Bloom said in a statement: “David served our club very well, and we now want to refresh our technical field with new leadership and direction.
“I have enjoyed working with David over the past eight years and appreciated his support and efforts throughout this period,” said Paul Barber, Brighton CEO.
Ayto reportedly influenced Martin Zubimendi’s signature at Arsenal. The Spanish midfielder arrived this summer at £51 million and last year stayed at Liverpool in Real Sociedad.
His former boss, Edu, decides to quit Arsenal for the forest. It was a turbulent start on the Premier League side, with three matches against Nuno Espirito Santo in the season and bringing in Ange Postecoglou as his new manager.
One of the main reasons behind Nuno’s departure was the friction between the manager and Edu, whose arrival was rocking things behind the scenes. In another sign of the football executive merry-go-round, Forest’s best football manager, Ross Wilson, is expected to leave to become Newcastle’s new sports director.
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