Mikel Arteta has outlined the need to turn Arsenal back into contenders for major trophies after signing a three-and-a-half-year deal as their head coach.
The club announced on Friday that Arteta, their former captain, will take charge from Sunday. He joins from Manchester City, where he had assisted Pep Guardiola since 2016. It brings to an end their search for a new manager, which began three weeks ago when Unai Emery was sacked after 18 months in charge.
“This is a huge honour,” Arteta told Arsenal’s website. “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.”
Arsenal sit 10th in the Premier League and if they do not win at Everton on Saturday lunchtime, a match Arteta will watch from the stands, he may be taking over a club in the bottom half of the table. He accepts that it will take time to turn an ailing side’s fortunes around.
“We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it,” he said. “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.”
Josh Kroenke, the Arsenal director, reiterated the message conveyed to Arteta and praised the work of Freddie Ljungberg, who oversaw five games as interim head coach during what has been a intensely testing period.
“We’re delighted to be bringing Mikel back to Arsenal,” Kroenke said. “He knows our expectations and those of our fans around the world are high and we are confident he can play a lead role in taking the club back to the levels we all demand.
“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.”
The Arsenal head of football, Raul Sanllehi, who headed up the recruitment panel that settled upon Arteta as Emery’s successor, struck a similar tone. “We met several top-class candidates and Mikel stood out to every single one of us as the perfect person for us,” he said. “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.
“I must also pay tribute to Freddie Ljungberg for his hard work and leadership. Together with Per Mertesacker, he has done a vital job for us in difficult circumstances. Freddie and Per are important parts of the Arsenal family and care deeply for this club.”
Arsenal will pay Manchester City around £1m for Arteta and it swiftly concludes a situation that had become tense in recent days, ever since the Arsenal executives Vinai Venkatesham and Huss Fahmy were photographed leaving Arteta’s home in the early hours of the morning.
City made clear their distaste at Arsenal’s conduct, saying as recently as Wednesday evening that they had received no formal approach for Arteta, but the deal has been closed to all parties’ satisfaction.
Arteta, who turns 38 in March, played for Arsenal between 2011 and his retirement in 2016 after signing from Everton. This is his first managerial job but he has never hid his ambition to assume a role of this kind and it is a case of second time lucky given that he came close to succeeding Arsène Wenger before Emery pipped him to the job.
Source: theguardian.
