Former Arsenal captain Arteta is expected to succeed Unai Emery as Arsenal manager after Spaniard reportedly agreed a three-and-a-half-year deal to rejoin the club he retired as a player in 2016.
Arsenal have been linked with a whole host of names over the past 18 days but Arteta has emerged as the front-runner and it looks as though it’s now a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ he gets the job.
Arteta is yet to manage at senior level after spending the three years since retiring as a player on the coaching team at Manchester City.
So we’ve been looking into reasons why Arsenal are so keen to bring the green gafa in:
He knows what it means:
He knows the club, the culture and will be a very good ambassador for the north Londoners.
Getting the best out of players:
It has been well documented that Arteta is an excellent one-to-one coach and that the Spaniard spends a lot of time individually working with Manchester City’s stars to improve their game. After all, the former Gunners captain has learned from the best in Pep Guardiola.
Money talks:
Arteta, who is set to arrive in a £5million-a-year deal will be a far cheaper option than other candidates as well.
This includes Everton bound Carlo Ancelotti who would likely demand the Kroenke’s to dig a lot deeper into their pockets.
Meanwhile, Paul Merson branded Arsenal’s move for Arteta as a “big gamble”.
The Gunners legend said: “To ask someone with no managerial experience to take charge in the current circumstances at Arsenal is a big gamble.
“But there are also massive question marks over his credentials, massive questions. I cannot make the case for Arteta because he’s never managed before, yet someone at Arsenal can. How can you do that?