Why Mikel Arteta is the right man for Arsenal or Everton but Manchester City should keep him at all costs
THERE has been a lot of speculation in recent weeks regarding the future of Pep Guardiola as Manchester City boss and no matter how much or little substance there is, we can agree it’s hardly unusual for a manager’s circumstances to be tittle-tattled across the back pages.
What is significantly rarer however is for such a flurry of headlines to centre on an assistant manager and when their volume exceeds that of stories concerning the next career move for the greatest coach in the modern era then we really are in unprecedented territory.
Yet this is precisely the unique position City and Mikel Arteta find themselves in at present with the 37-year-old heavily linked to the vacant hot-seats at Everton and Arsenal and with both clubs scheduled to meet at Goodison Park this Saturday we can only expect the rumour mill to churn ever louder in the coming days.
Sky Sports News have approached both Arsenal and Man City for comment following the release of images from Sunday night's meeting but, so far, neither club has commented. #Arteta pic.twitter.com/diLeCFt56S
— AFCMike (@AFCPW) December 16, 2019
That is unless of course Arteta leaves in the meantime because that is how strong and consistent the chatter has been of late and how almost inevitable it now feels that he will imminently depart the Etihad. The highly-rated coach ‘wants the Arsenal job’ according to the Mail and Mirror while The Sun – naturally – have gone further, suggesting he is ‘desperate’ for the gig. As for Everton’s interest their former midfielder has never wavered from bookmaker’s considerations since the sacking of Marco Silva.
Most worrying of all for Blues are the comments attributed to Guardiola following his team’s return to free-flowing dominance at the weekend, ironically at the expense of the Gunners. To his enormous credit Guardiola has always spoken candidly when asked about the intention of others to poach his coveted colleague but this time he replied, unintentionally or otherwise, in the past tense – “He is part of the huge success we had” – before taking a que sera approach. “What will happen, will happen,” he surmised.
This is worrying because Arteta is anything but a stereotypical assistant manager, long satirized as a nodding soundboard to his gaffer; a peripheral figure even when a constant fixture in the dug-out. This is worrying because he would be a substantial loss to the champions and a substantial loss to the man who made them so.
Appointing Arteta to his coaching staff was one of the first decisions Guardiola made on arriving to the Premier League and just six months in his prominence within the set-up was first made apparent when the responsibility for preparing for a home commitment against Arsenal was given over completely to him. It was Arteta who took training that week. It was Arteta who devised the tactics that led to a comfortable 2-1 win.
A year later Arsenal were again victims of Arteta’s increasing input and import when an intricate move down the left resulted in an opening goal and Guardiola enthusiastically hugging its sole architect.
Two Reasons why Arsenal will beat Everton on Saturday:
1. This will be Arteta's first game as Arsenal manager. Giving the players & fans a major boost.
Or…
2. This will be Arteta's first game as Everton manager. Coming too soon for him to have made an impact during training. pic.twitter.com/bICjDnru6G
— Eddie Longbridge (@EddieLongbridge) December 15, 2019
In the summer of 2018 he was promoted to the role of assistant manager, succeeding Domènec Torrent who left for New York City, and that September, Arteta took charge of the team with Guardiola banned from the touchline as City hosted Lyon in the Champions League. For the first time that season City lost but if that unfairly reflects poorly on the nascent manager his post-match criticism of the team revealed a good deal more. Arteta was scathing of the performance and scathing of the individuals involved and this illustrated clearly that this was not a man living in anyone’s shadow. This was a man of authority.
His importance and sway within the club is further alluded to by the fact that he has his own office at the training ground while it has become the norm for him to take the second half of sessions, concentrating mainly on set-pieces and individual concerns. His relationship with Guardiola meanwhile has long flourished past that of master and pupil to almost something akin to a double-act, such is the amount that his counsel is sought and respected by the Catalan. Both are quiet and intense, sharing the same obsessive traits, while the pair go back years due to Arteta’s close friendship with Pere, Guardiola’s brother.
As for the players Arteta remains an immensely popular and trusted confidant, credited with improving them individually and in particular the wingers of Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane. This should prick up the ears of Arsenal and Everton fans given the respective struggles of Nicolas Pepe and Alex Iwobi while for the Goodison faithful his acumen at conjuring up left-field set-pieces should also be a source of encouragement. Only 10% of the Toffees goals this term have come from corners or free-kicks. Last season it was 29%.
These heartening factors however, pale to the overall reason why Mikel Arteta is currently one of the main topics of conversation on Merseyside and across North London. Because within the coach there is possibly a Guardiola MkII only with his own mind; an ambitious man who said this in 2016 of his future plans to manage: “My philosophy will be clear. I want the football to be expressive, entertaining. I cannot have a concept of football where everything is based on the opposition.”
He would be a huge plus to whichever club was fortunate enough to snag him and equally a huge depletion to the one that moulded him. Let’s hope those flurry of headlines come to nothing at all.
