In three years, Mikel Arteta’s non-negotiables have taken the Gunners from a toxic crisis at his December 2019 arrival to five points clear on top of the Premier League. FFT speaks to players, coaches and fans to find out how the Basque did it
Words Mark White Additional reporting Arthur Renard
hen Pep Guardiola’s name appears on your phone, you take the call. You stop what you are doing. He demands nothing less than your sole focus. It’s as if he’s put the rest of the world on mute for the duration he has your attention.
Mikel Arteta first met this hypnotic man many years earlier. He had grown up idolising this magician who could bend space, time and football to his will, long before the Catalan coaching sensei learned to choreograph whole teams to do the same. A 16-year-old Arteta would make his Barcelona B debut as a substitute for Guardiola, then-club captain and 11 years his protégé’s senior. The former never made a senior Barcelona appearance but, with the pair both schooled by Johan Cruyff principles and with a contacts book in common, they kept in touch. And, a decade and a half later, Arteta received the call that would adjust his career’s sails.
It was now April 2012. The days were getting longer and Arteta’s first season wearing Arsenal red and white was drawing to a close. Guardiola wasn’t ringing to offer his fellow La Masia alumnus a job – that was another conversation for another timeline. He had simply rung an old acquaintance to pick his brain about Chelsea, Barcelona’s next opponents in the Champions League.
Arteta gave his two cents. He explained succinctly the strengths and weaknesses of an outfit he had recently helped Arsenal to humble 5-3 at Stamford Bridge. He had even set up Robin van Persie’s injury-time hat-trick goal. Pep listened intently. “I must ask his opinion more often,” he said as he hung up.
As compliments go, there are few bigger in the game than the most revered manager of a generation asking for a tactical take from an uncapped 30-year-old midfielder. It was an early endorsement of a football mind that Guardiola would mine on a regular basis.
“THAT WAS SO ARTETA”
Guardiola grew up fascinated by British football’s romance and passion, admiring from afar its stacked pyramid, cup replays and travelling support. Arteta never had the luxury of distance. Unlike his playing and coaching mentor, he didn’t leave his boyhood club of Barcelona on his own terms.
A gap year away at Paris Saint-Germain in 2001-02 – playing alongside Ronaldinho, Jay-Jay Okocha, Mauricio Pochettino and other big names – culminated
