Nico Williams Arsenal Emirates Stadium
Arsenal Emirates Stadium

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta could be on the verge of losing his job at the club after the Gunners crashed out of the Europa League this week.

The Premier League side failed to make it to the final as they stumbled against Unai Emery’s Villarreal, losing the two-legged tie 1-2. And as a result of this, the Gunners will not be playing in Europe next season.

Not being in Europe will be a big blow for the North London side, in more ways than one, which is why some pundits think the management could get rid of Mikel Arteta in the coming weeks.

“Well, first of all you have to go through the pain that caused last night’s disappointment,” Arteta said, as per the club’s official website. “After that, we have a responsibility and we have to be professional.

“What I felt last night was a deep pain because the moment the club is in at the moment, with everything it has been through over the last months, I had a feeling that if we could take the team to the final, it could be a great turning point.

“I felt that responsibility and I was so eager to achieve that because I knew it could be a defining moment.

“Not being able to achieve it has been really tough personally obviously. I know that we have disappointed a lot of people as well, and that really hurts because we want to give the best to everybody but one thing I made clear is that to do what we want to do, I have no doubts that we are going to achieve it. If not, I wouldn’t be sat here.”

 

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Chances of Mikel Arteta being shown the door are pretty high but according to ESPN, the club’s management is still willing to back their current boss despite his recent failures.

ESPN’s James Olley claims: “Sources have told ESPN that the Arsenal hierarchy are disappointed with the end to the campaign but remain keen to continue supporting Arteta, who has been instrumental behind the scenes in streamlining the squad, convincing young players Bukayo Saka and Folarin Balogun to sign new contracts while also helping negotiate an initial 12.5% pay cut for the first-team squad to help offset the financial impact of COVID-19.”

Finances is also a big reason why the management could choose to stick with Mikel Arteta rather than getting a new boss since the club’s summer transfer budget will be really limited due to their absence from European competitions. And in such a scenario no big manager will be ready to come in and start working on a rebuilding project over the next few seasons.

Even if Arsenal were in the Europa League then also they might have been able to bring in a relatively big name but now with only the Premier League to look forward to, the hierarchy have no other option but to stick with Mikel Arteta.

Read: Mikel Arteta’s poker face after the Europa League exit is sure to infuriate the Arsenal fans.

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