The Spaniard had a shaky start to his life at Arsenal, but he’s grown alongside the club and become one of the world’s premier tacticians.
Arteta may be a great manager these days, but the groundwork was laid out a long time ago.
Indeed, Arteta has been working towards this stage for years, from his time as the Arsenal captain to being Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City.
For years, it looked clear that Arteta was destined for management, but, interestingly, Per Mertesacker has claimed that he didn’t see this coming from his former teammate.
Per Mertesacker shocked by Mikel Arteta’s step into management
Mertesacker spoke alongside Theo Walcott about Arteta’s management on Live from N5,
“Did you know he was going to become a manager? Because I did, I had that sense he was going to become a manager because of the way he spoke and his presence, did you feel that as well?” Walcott asked.
“Not as quickly as he did. He had this ambition and he’s all in you know. I would say he’s all in and you see that on a daily basis how resilient he is and how he builds a team around him to protect him and motivate him,” Mertesacker said.
“I couldn’t see it immediately, but he wants it, he wants it so desperately, and he wants success at this football club.”
Mikel Arteta was always going to be a manager
Mertesacker says that he was shocked by Arteta’s quick step into management, but he shouldn’t have been.
Walcott stated that during his playing days at Arsenal, Arteta once locked everyone in the dressing room and basically gave a team talk.
“We have training in 30 minutes. Mikel’s literally locked the dressing room, players only, and it’s like he was, I’m taking control of this whole space. I’m going to say how it is,” Walcott said.
“It’s an open room. If anyone else wants to speak, I’ve always stuck with me. I remember it was like he was the manager there in that moment.
“For me, that was a turning point thing, and I was like, this guy, he’d be a manager. I’d love to play with this guy. And then after that, we made top four that year, and it was that one particular speech.
“Arsene was outside waiting for us to train. We were not out there, because Mikel stopped training. That’s how strong of a character he was.
“Even Arsene was afraid of him.”
Mertesacker, of course, had a close relationship with Arteta during his time at Arsenal as a player, but, for some reason, he couldn’t see his path into management as clearly as others perhaps could.
0 Comments