Over three years since landing his first assignment as a first team manager, with a club where he spent five years of his playing career, there is now a representation of what Mikel Arteta’s approach looks like.
The Spaniard has been hailed as one of the elite managers around, albeit he is still young in the game, his knowledge of the beautiful game and tactical prowess makes him a master.
Speaking in his first interview as the new Arsenal manager in 2019, Mikel Arteta explained his philosophy to go about managing the club, and even though he looked inexperienced at the time, it is safe to say it’s all been there ever since.
“There are some things that have to have a blueprint – we have to have passion, we have to be dominant, we have to be aggressive. We have to play in the opponent’s territory as much as we want.” Mikel Arteta in 2019.
The rough patch is over and now he has successfully implement what he desires, and it has proven to be exactly what Arsenal want, need and love.
The togetherness in the team, spread across the staff and even fans of the club. They’ve been joy to watch, so much that even some section of rival fans would love to see them emerge as the league winners because their effort is deserving of it.
However, after Arteta has been successful in the mission to have Arsenal competing again, statistics has revealed where he might have taken some of the initiatives he is putting to work at the Emirates.
Research has shown that Arteta has been taking clues from one of the most reputable managers in the history of the game, Sir Alex Ferguson, mostly in the transfer front.
Under Mikel Arteta, Arsenal have made 21 first team signings, 43 per cent of whom have joined from fellow Premier League clubs.
Under Arsène Wenger, this was rarely the case and it really made the club suffer as players often take too long to settle in, there by costing the club with their lack of experience of the league.
Mostly defenders. Under Wenger, most notably in the final ten years of his reign, the club was graced by talented Midfielder as well as attackers but the defence was always issue and Wenger was adamant.
He signed the likes of Laurent Koscielny, Sebastian Squillaci, Per Mertesacker and others, some of whom never really made it at the club and some others, who took time before being at least able to perform in the average.
The Frenchman turned down the chance to sign several players from the league, with Virgil van Dijk one of the popular names. A signing which might have completely changed the narratives of his final years.
Compared to Sir Alex Ferguson, raising high the red flag in the heart of Manchester. In his time, the Scottish manager signed players from direct oppositions in order to limit their growth and strengthen his own.
.jpeg)
Robin van Persie, Carlos Tevez, Dimitar Berbatov, Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Edwin van der Saar, Michael Carrick and more were sighed from Premier League clubs and helped Manchester United go a long way to maintain their dominance at the time.
Taking lessons from that, Arteta has signed Ben White, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Aaron Ramsdale, three of the regular back five, Goalkeeper included, all from fellow Premier League clubs.
Thomas Partey was from Atletico Madrid, one of the top three clubs in Spain and Martin Ødegaard is a player he had to convince to leave Real Madrid, unarguably the best club in the world, and join his Arsenal project.
Granit Xhaka, who complete the midfield trio was already at the club before Arteta’s appointment and kudos to the Spaniard for how the player’s career at the club has turned for the good.
Gabriel Jesus and Leandro Trossard are also both from Premier League clubs and not just that, they both played for clubs that play close to how the Gunners play, in Manchester City and Brighton respectively.
Aside from Ferguson, Mikel Arteta’s approach in the window has also been likened to that of Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga, which has seen the Bavarians dominate the German topflight over the past decades till now.
Bayern have a heritage of getting the best players from fellow Bundesliga clubs and this has also been seen in Mikel Arteta in his few years at Arsenal.
Willian, David Luiz and Jorginho from London rival, Chelsea. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Gabriel Jesus from unarguably the best club in the Premier League, Manchester City.
Aaron Ramsdale and Ben White were voted player of the year in Sheffield United and Brighton respectively in their final seasons before moving to Arsenal.
Leandro Trossard was also Brighton’s top scorer in the league before his Arsenal move and it is also worth noting that Fabio Vieira was signed from Porto, the best club in the Portuguese league.
This is a Bayern tactic and so far, it is working well for Arteta in the Premier League. Winning first league title for Arsenal since 2004 will finally crown his effort, which has been stupendous to say the least.
His talent identity is great but also ensuring that the environment a player is coming from suits the one he is coming to, that is another underrated part of what the former Everton midfielder has been cooking in North London.
Sir Alex Ferguson and Bayern Munich’s ruthlessness in the window, learn the trade under Arsène Wenger and Pep Guardiola, the combination of Arteta’s knowledge as a football coach is scary, and winning the Premier League title ahead of City will be an eyeopener for critics.
Author : Kehinde Hassan Afolabi
5 Comments
This is insightful!
Well Detailed… OLT to the world
I love oltspot more hope dey still dey for us
Champion league mentality
Louder please for the Thomas at the back
A great read. Kudos!