Arsenal appoints Mikel Arteta as new head coach on a 3.5-year deal

Arsenal has anunced that former player and captain Mikel Arteta will be club’s new head coach. Arteta will succeed Unai Emery, who was sacked by club in vember. Spaniard played for Arsenal for five years before retiring as a player and joining Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff in summer of 2016. Arteta has been Guardiola’s assistant coach and during his time at Manchester City, he has helped club win two successive Premier League titles, two Carabao Cup and FA Cup.

37-year old was heavily linked to job since Emery’s departure and was close to taking over after legendary manr Arsene Wenger left club in 2018. Arteta is kwn for his ability to connect to players on a personal level and demands a committed performance from squad in general. Arteta won two FA Cups during his time at Arsenal and was well respected by his teammates.

'He has a passion, like Spanish people do, for game'

He has been regularly endorsed by his seniors in game to coach a football team. In an interview with Arsenal.com in May 2016, Wenger had highlighted why Arteta would be a good coach. Wenger had said, “First of all he was captain of team, so he has leadership qualities. He is a winner and he is focused every day to do well. He has an impact on his partners. That is a little bit difficult to explain sometimes, but I believe he is highly focused on football. He has a passion, like Spanish people do, for game.”

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In vember, Guardiola had touted his manrial qualities as well. In a press conference, he had said, “He was an incredible player. holding midfielder has a vision of what happens on pitch. But I think that holding midfielder is an incredible lesson during your period as a football player. You don't need to go to school. More than that he is an incredible human being and works a lot. I said after a few months toger he would be a manr. He is already a manr - he behaves like a manr."

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This is Arteta’s first job as a full-time head coach of a team and he is latest entrant in a growing pool of former players taking over as manrs/coaches of football clubs after Steven Gerrard joined Rangers, Frank Lampard joined Chelsea, Thierry Henry joined Montreal Impact and Patrick Vieira joined Nice in recent years.

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