Arsenal Football Club have finally announced the appointment of Mikel Arteta as their new manager – the North London club have confirmed.
Yesterday we had reported that the Gunners are likely to announce the appointment in the next 24 hours and on Friday afternoon, the club have confirmed that the former player will be taking charge of the first-team from Sunday having signed a three-and-a-half-year deal.
The official statement read: “We’re delighted to announce Mikel Arteta is joining the club as our head coach on Sunday.
“Mikel, a former club captain, played for us for five seasons from 2011 to 2016 and has signed a three-and-a-half-year contract.”
The 37-year-old said: “This is a huge honour. 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.
“We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it.
BREAKING: Mikel Arteta has been appointed as the new Arsenal manager.
From captain to coach.
🔴⚪️ pic.twitter.com/XbfdBekM8Q
— Coral (@Coral) December 20, 2019
“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.”
Head of football Raul Sanllehi said: “We met several top-class candidates and Mikel stood out to every single one of us as the perfect person for us. 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.”
Mikel Arteta retired from professional football in 2016 and that very same year he joined the Manchester City coaching staff under Pep Guardiola – a job which he was in until Thursday.
