Arsenal sacked Unai Emery a couple of weeks ago and finally, after waiting for so long, they have named Mikel Arteta as their new boss.
Mikel Arteta was a player at the Emirates and after retiring from football in 2016, the Spaniard chose to serve as the assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
But after three years of staying in the shadows of the Man City boss, Arteta finally decided to take charge of the Gunners and try to restore their fate.
On Friday, the club released an official statement which 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.”
Multiple reports have claimed that Pep Guardiola was not particularly happy with Arteta’s decision to leave the Citizens and take charge of Arsenal during the middle of the season.
And now according to a report in The Mirror, Mikel Arteta chose to leave Man City in order to become the next Arsenal manager for one particular reason.
The report states: “Mikel Arteta took the Arsenal job after failing to get assurances from Manchester City that he would be Pep Guardiola’s successor.
“Arteta, as Guardiola’s No.2, believed that he would be the natural choice to take over from the Catalan when he eventually leaves the Etihad after spending the last three years on City’s backroom staff.
“But when we reported in September that Dutchman Giovanni van Bronckhorst had been given an access-all-areas role at the club as the Premier League champions began to prepare for life after Guardiola, the 37-year-old Spaniard asked City bosses for guarantees that he was next in line.
“He was disappointed to be told that no such promises would be made. The belief at City is that Arteta is one of the game’s brightest young coaches.
But the Premier League champions made it clear that appointing a managerial novice to take over from Guardiola is unlikely to be an option.”
In the past, Pep Guardiola had claimed that Mikel Arteta had the capability of replacing his at Manchester City but there was no way the City owners would appoint the former midfielder as the man in charge at the Etihad.
