Mikel Arteta has turned Arsenal into Premier League champions but does his new contract take him into a new stage of his project? And can he bring more trophies to eclipse Arsene Wenger?
In a special podcast, Ron Walker is joined by Gary Cotterill, Nick Wright and Sam Blitz to discuss Arteta’s new deal in detail. The panel reflect on his tenure so far and look at the challenges ahead as he aims to build an Arsenal dynasty.
‘Arteta transformed Arsenal’s identity’
Nick Wright: “The club is unrecognisable from 2019, on and off the pitch. It’s been a collective effort but Arteta is the driving force behind it. He’s one of few constants over these six or seven years.
“He has brought the club back to the elite. This is a team winning titles now, also consistently reaching the latter stages of the Champions League. Obviously, there are still imperfections. There’s still fallibility. The Brighton game showed that.
“But what made that defeat such a surprise was that it was so uncharacteristic, and that tells you a lot about the standards that he has set. Arsenal hadn’t lost a game by three goals in the Premier League for over three years. It just doesn’t really happen.
“And it’s what we’ve come to expect, that capacity to deliver consistently. They have become so difficult to beat. And remember, Arsenal used to get bullied and beaten up all the time.
“It’s a total transformation of their identity under Arteta. They are defined by that competitiveness. They are a super-competitive team, they are relentless, and that’s a reflection of the manager.
“These are the things that define him, and these are the ways in which he has imprinted his own personality on this team. The team is very much a reflection of Arteta and the way he approaches his job.”
‘D-word is step five of the project’
Sam Blitz: “It’s been well-documented that when Arteta arrived, he had a five-step plan to bring Arsenal to the top of English football.
“Step one was creating that culture. There was that infamous story of the first-team meeting with the Arsenal players, where the players walked in and the room was a mess.
“Chairs and tables were everywhere and Arteta said, ‘this is what English football thinks of you, and we’re going to fix it bit by bit’.
“Step two was probably getting the right players in. We saw that with the likes of Gabriel joining, Ben White, Aaron Ramsdale. These are more the profiles of what he wanted.
Sky Sports’ Sam Blitz discusses Arteta’s five-step plan to take Arsenal back to the top and explains why they are entering the final phase
“Step three then was to challenge, and that coincided with the time when Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko arrived. Arteta said those two ‘changed our world’, so that got them challenging for the top honours once again.
“Step four was to win, to get over the line. That also coincided with the arrival of Win the dog, who is a popular figure at the training ground. And that obviously happened last season.
“And now we’ve got to step five, which is the D-word. Anyone associated with Arsenal will know the D-word is dynasty. And it’s interesting that this new contract coincides with that step five.”
Can Arteta match Wenger?
Gary Cotterill: “Arsene Wenger certainly got off to a faster start, didn’t he? But Arteta has got the time to do it.
“Arteta now, he’s on his fourth contract and he’s 44 years old. Arsene Wenger was 47 when he arrived at Arsenal. So he’s already got a lot of years on him.
“In three years, Arteta will have been at Arsenal for 10 years, but still be the same age that Wenger was when he was appointed at Arsenal.
“That will be one of his ambitions, because people still think about Wenger as being the best manager, certainly modern manager, that Arsenal have ever had.
“And Arteta is certainly in the running, given his age and the fact that they seem to be having this contract situation, which doesn’t look like it’s going to stop any time soon, to get the trophies that Wenger got.”
‘The next rebuild will test him’
Sam Blitz: “The potential rebuild will test Arteta.
“If he’s still in charge of Arsenal in 2029, he will have overtaken Jurgen Klopp’s spell at Liverpool. If he’s in there in 2030, he will have overtaken Pep’s time at Manchester City.
“Arteta is younger, this is his first job and he’s probably got more in the tank compared to those two. But it’s the rebuilds that really damaged Klopp and Guardiola.
Arteta poses with the Premier League trophy
“If you actually look at the ages of the Arsenal squad, come 2029, you’d have Gabriel, 31, [Martin] Odegaard, 30, [Declan] Rice, 30, [Kai] Havertz, 30, [David] Raya, 34.
“Those are five players you’d probably put at the very heart of this Mikel Arteta project. All of them would probably have to be thinking about moving on.
“Does Arteta have that in him when he gets to that stage to then really go and create a new team, almost?”
Is Arteta’s style misunderstood?
Nick Wright: “The attack is the area where fans want to see the most improvement but there is a slight misconception around Arteta in terms of what he wants the team to be and who he is as a manager.
“People are sometimes critical of Arsenal for putting too much emphasis on set-pieces and being too defensive. They did lean into those things to win the title, no doubt about it.
“But that was largely to do with injuries. When you can’t get your most effective attacking players on the pitch, it’s hard to be that free-flowing force. He maximised their chances of winning by leaning into other things.
“You have to remember, the last time he had Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Odegaard fit for a full season, Arsenal scored a club-record number of goals with 91 – more goals than any Wenger team.
“He would like to return Arsenal to that level of attacking potency. I don’t think he’s wilfully turned them into something else. He has adapted. He is pragmatic.”
‘Arteta has Mourinho’s ruthlessness’
Gary Cotterill: “They are both ruthless. This is the biggest thing they have in common. Arteta was ruthless when it came to Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus.
“Jose Mourinho has been ruthless with players as well.
“If they’re not doing the job or around the place that they were brought in to do because of age or attitude, no matter what relationship they have, Arteta will ruthlessly get rid of them.
“He’s ruthless when it comes to the officials as well. Arteta is becoming like a mini-Mourinho in his criticism of decisions and referees.”
Discussion about this post