While Edu’s wife largely keeps herself to herself on social media, she’s shown in the past she’s not afraid to make her feelings known on his role at Arsenal

Edu has won Arsenal fans over now, but his wife once had to step in to defend him from abuse (Image: Getty Images)

Arsenal chief Edu is the man behind their resurgence under Mikel Areta – and as they say, behind every great man there’s a great woman.

For him that’s wife Paula, who has been by his side for over two decades. They married when Edu was playing for the Gunners, tying the knot in the summer before the Invincibles season in which he made 30 Premier League appearances.

While the former midfielder is very much in the public eye, boasting 375k followers on Instagram, Paula likes to lead a more private life on social media. Her account is private, albeit with 10k followers.

She did make the headlines back in August 2021, however, when she flipped off an Arsenal fan who was directing an angry rant at her husband. There was a very different mood at the Emirates at that time, with Arteta’s side losing their first two games of the season.

Paula wasn’t happy sitting by and letting Edu take the slack, though, promptly putting her middle finger up in the direction of the furious supporter.

Their teenage daughter Maria, 17, also stuck up for her dad and called out fans who had messaged her account. “Look at everything my father was won, look at everything that he’s done,” she wrote on her Instagram story.

Edu married Paula back in 2003 (Image: Instagram/edugaspar)

“I know about his potential. I’m not here to talk about that. But sometimes, reading this stuff, it hurts a lot. But we have to get used to this life, right. In life, there are ups and downs.

“My father has been on this life for a while, from criticism to praise, he’s used to it but I am not. It hurts a lot, but we will learn [to get used to it].

Paula largely keeps herself to herself on social media (Image: Instagram/edugaspar)Edu’s often sharing snaps from their life on his Instagram page (Image: Instagram/edugaspar)

“Every day, I used to answer people on DMs, and some have asked why I stopped doing so. I can’t open my DM’s anymore because it’s full of abuse, I don’t have a lot of patience. My head is not right at the moment to explain why they’re abusing my father.”

Paula has also birthed son Luigi, 19, who played in Arsenal’s academy before signing his first professional contract with Watford last year, and younger daughter Isa, nine.

The pair have had three children since tying the knot (Image: Instagram/edugaspar)

Little is known about her life before she met Edu, but she’s raised their children in the years since as he finished his playing career before transitioning into a backroom role.

He worked for Corinthians and the Brazil national team before returning to north London in 2019 as technical director, going on to become Arsenal’s first-ever sporting director last November.

Edu and Paula celebrated their 20th anniversary last month. He shared a snap from their wedding day with the caption: “How to express these 20 years together!?