Mikel Arteta’s return to Arsenal as manager has been confirmed after the former midfielder quit his role as No 2 to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City to sign a three-and-a-half year contract with the Gunners.
Arteta said in a statement: ‘This is a huge honour. Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world. We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game and that’s been made very clear to me in my discussions with Stan and Josh Kroenke, and the senior people from the club.
‘We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it. I’m realistic enough to know it won’t happen overnight but the current squad has plenty of talent and there is a great pipeline of young players coming through from the academy.’
Mikel Arteta has been confirmed as the new Arsenal manager on a three-and-a-half year deal
The Spaniard has returned to his former club as the long-term replacement for Unai Emery
The 37-year old made 150 appearances for the Gunners after joining the club back in 2011
Arsenal confirmed in their statement that Arteta’s support staff will be confirmed ‘as soon as possible’, while temporary boss Freddie Ljungberg’s future remains unclear for now.
He was initially expected to be in charge for Arsenal’s game against Everton on Saturday with Arteta watching on, however that could change.
Josh Kroenke, son of owner Stan, said he was ‘delighted to bring Mikel back to Arsenal’.
Arteta has left his role as Pep Guardiola’s (left) assistant at Manchester City
He added: ‘I also want to thank Freddie Ljungberg for skilfully guiding us through the last three weeks. He stepped up at short notice and has helped us through this difficult period with great professionalism.’
Head of football Raul Sanllehi said: ‘We met several top-class candidates and Mikel stood out to every single one of us as the perfect person for us.
‘Mikel understands Arsenal Football Club and what it means to our fans around the world. We look forward to him getting down to work and bringing the best out of our squad as we work to get our season back on track.’
Former midfielder Arteta held a meeting on Monday night with Kroenke (centre)
The Gunners are in poor shape and lost against Man City at the weekend – they have won just one of their last five games
The appointment comes after Manchester City boss had confirmed that Arteta was in London less than an hour before the announcement to seal the deal.
‘He’s in London and close to finishing the deal with Arsenal. It’s almost done. Yesterday and today he didn’t train and he’s going to Arsenal. I don’t know the last details of the contract but it’s there.’
Arsenal had cancelled Freddie Ljungberg’s Thursday pre-match press conference for the Everton game while a £2million compensation deal was agreed with City following talks this week.
City sources labelled Arsenal’s attitude over the pursuit of Arteta ‘shambolic’ and ‘disrespectful’, although they were never going to stand in the Spaniard’s way.
Arteta makes his first move into management with his old side after his appointment was rubber-stamped by Gunners director Josh Kroenke.
A meeting with Kroenke on Monday evening came after the new boss had talks lasting two-and-a-half hours with the Gunners managing director Vinai Venkatesham and chief negotiator Huss Fahmy at Arteta’s home in Manchester until 1.20am on Monday morning.
Arteta, who was Guardiola’s assistant since 2016, expressed his interest in the Arsenal job after Unai Emery was sacked last month.
Ljungberg, another former Gunners midfielder, has been in temporary charge but the team is in a miserable run of form – winning just one of their five games.
Arteta had been part of Guardiola’s coaching team as City beat Arsenal 3-0 on Sunday afternoon to bring an end to Ljungberg’s stint in the dugout. And he was back in the City dugout for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup win at Oxford before sealing his switch to north London.
Arsenal had at least 10 names on their original list of candidates, including Mauricio Pochettino, Brendan Rodgers and Nuno Espirito Santo.
But they have decided that Arteta, who played for them between 2011 and 2016, is the right man to replace Emery on a permanent basis.
There was also concern that managerless Everton could also step up their interest in Arteta, who spent six seasons as a player at Goodison Park.
There was a feeling at Arsenal ahead of Sunday’s 3-0 loss to City that the issue needed to be cleared up this week.
Arteta was close to being appointed Arsenal manager following Arsene Wenger’s departure in 2018, but doubts over his lack of experience from certain board members eventually resulted in the club naming Emery.
Arteta’s exit will come as a significant blow to Guardiola and his players. The Spaniard had a great influence at City, playing a significant role during sessions on a day-to-day to basis.
Kevin De Bruyne recently admitted the City players were bracing themselves for Arteta’s eventual move into management.
‘He came here three years ago, and had to find his way a little bit, because to transition from player to coach is a little bit different,’ said the Belgian.
‘He is finding his role really, really good right now. I guess one day he will want to be a head coach.
Freddie Ljungberg’s difficult few weeks as interim manager has come to a close
Unai Emery was sacked as Gunners boss after a home defeat by Eintracht Frankfurt
City will be due compensation from Arsenal after Arteta left the club to become Gunners boss
The 37-year-old was considered to replace Arsene Wenger at the Emirates last year
‘He is helping us a lot, but if he gets a good opportunity to be a head coach, and he thinks it’s time for him to take that, I think as a club you need to let somebody go.
‘You want to grow as a head coach, I guess. If he doesn’t, it’s his decision, but why, otherwise, start coaching in that way?’
During his time at Arsenal Arteta won the FA Cup twice.
Former manager Unai Emery believed it was a ‘good decision’ to appoint Arteta as his permanent successor.
‘He really is prepared to make that next jump,’ Emery told the BBC.
‘He has been at Arsenal before, he’s been in the Premier League and he has been working with Pep Guardiola.
‘I do believe this is a good decision and I would also like it to be a good decision.’
JACK GAUGHAN: From talking tactics with Arsene Wenger to quickly becoming Pep Guardiola’s go-to guy and plotting ways to beat Arsenal… Mikel Arteta has been a manager in the making for long, long time
During the days before last season’s curtain-raiser, one member of Manchester City’s staff noted the irony of their first fixture. ‘Just our luck that it is Arsenal, after what has happened,’ they tutted.
What had happened was that Mikel Arteta, newly appointed as Pep Guardiola’s assistant manager, had come extremely close to securing his first managerial job two months prior, only to be pipped by Unai Emery.
The former Arsenal captain was a front-runner, impressing the board before Emery’s now-fabled PowerPoint presentation narrowly won the day.
It was clear Mikel Arteta was destined for management one day during his time at Arsenal
His first Premier League game as Guardiola’s No 2, a role he was promoted to weeks before, came against the club who interviewed him to become Arsene Wenger’s successor. Poetic, perhaps, that it was Arteta’s tactical nous that then won City the game.
City were a goal up but the match hung in the balance when the Spaniard spotted how they could take it beyond the Gunners. He sought out Benjamin Mendy and Raheem Sterling, operating on the left, telling them how to manoeuvre around Arsenal.
Crucially, he instructed Mendy to fizz his crosses in on the floor, rather than float them into the box. Bernardo Silva soon scored City’s second exactly that way, after Mendy’s low ball from Sterling’s pass. Guardiola leapt on Arteta, along with first-team coach Rodolfo Borrell. They were on the way to consecutive league titles.
Clearly the powers that be at Arsenal — whose managing director Vinai Venkatesham and contract negotiator Huss Fahmy met Arteta at his home in the Manchester suburb of Didsbury on Sunday night before he underwent a final interview with director Josh Kroenke on Monday night — have kept a close eye on Arteta since turning him down.
Arteta (left) and Guardiola watch on during Manchester City’s win over Arsenal last year
Bernardo Silva celebrates after scoring City’s second goal against Arsenal in August, 2018
And it was enough to hand him the job.
The final step into management for 37-year-old Arteta has been a long time coming. He was laying the groundwork long before he retired, affectionately labelled the ‘teacher’s pet’ in his final years at the Emirates.
Wenger would often have his captain close by and talk tactics with him, with many of the view that he would eventually manage the club. Providing he was not playing, Arteta would regularly chime in at half-time. While on the bench, the midfielder spoke openly of what he would do tactically.
Sources around City have labelled his departure, particularly mid-season, as ‘potentially disastrous,’ unless plans are in place for a new assistant who is ready to go. There was a belief that Arteta was more likely to leave next summer — he has already rejected at least one job — but Guardiola has urged that he will never stand in his way.
Arteta’s influence was great in his first two years as a coach, and grew once he became the right-hand man after Domenec Torrent took over at New York City in 2018. One source said that giving Arteta additional sway was ‘like making a new signing’ as City retained the title ahead of Liverpool.
Despite a soft exterior, he is no shrinking violet. Given the might of Guardiola, you may expect nodding dogs around him, but Arteta is much the opposite.
Arsene Wenger would often have captain Arteta close by and talk tactics with him
He picks his moments to alter the manager’s view and can be forceful with it. The pair’s speed of conversation is so quick that it can completely go over the heads of bystanders, even those who have been in the game for decades.
His only public blot was the home defeat by Lyon in last season’s Champions League, a match Guardiola served a suspension for. City lost their opening group game 2-1 on Arteta’s watch, but Guardiola refused to blame his coach.
That night was not viewed as representative of how the Spaniard could manage. He took charge of every aspect in the week leading up to a match against Arsenal in Guardiola’s first season, from training to matchday duties, as the manager felt Arteta would have more knowledge of the club he had recently left. City won 2-1.
He transformed Leroy Sane after the youngster struggled to adapt with life in England following a big-money move from Schalke. He had a significant impact on Sterling’s finishing, which has improved no end over the last two campaigns. This season, he has been working on Rodri’s positioning as the new midfielder acclimatises to the Premier League.
The former midfielder’s bonds with the City players are strong and he has improved many
Arteta’s bonds with the squad are strong. His small office, just down the hall from Guardiola’s, is often occupied by players reviewing various clips. Plenty speak privately of how Arteta has improved them. Observers note how tight the connections are. ‘I knew they liked each other and got on, but I recently saw him hug a player like a long-lost brother,’ a source said.
The scale of his influence has come as a slight surprise. As detailed in the forensic book, Pep’s City: The Making of a Superteam, Guardiola first became aware of Arteta’s tactical talent in 2012 before Barcelona faced Chelsea in the Champions League.
‘Pep picked up the phone to pick his brain,’ authors Pol Ballus and Lu Martin wrote. ‘Impressed by Arteta’s critical analysis, he made a mental note to seek his advice more often.’ An open-ended offer to work with Guardiola should he manage in England was eventually made. Arteta rang to cash that in three years ago and they have not looked back. Some Barcelona fans coined Arteta as ‘Little Guardiola’ as he came through the La Masia academy, and similar could be said of his coaching style, too.
Guardiola took the Spaniard to Manchester City despite him never having coached before
Management was clearly always the aim. Roberto Montiel, a former coach at the famed Basque youth club Antiguoko, told Sportsmail last year: ‘You talk to him for an hour about football and you know what type of person he is. If Guardiola took him to City despite him never having coached before, that speaks volumes. Mikel was born to play, but perhaps even more than that he was born to manage.’
So, by saying goodbye to the Etihad now it is merely the hastening of the inevitable. Guardiola took Arteta to the Catalan restaurant, Tast, when news emerged Arsenal had gone with Emery last year.
The tapas and drinks look like they will have to be congratulatory this time around.