City’s assistant manager, Mikel Arteta will be named as Arsenal’s head coach this Friday. Have the Gunners really made the right choice?
Following Emery’s dismissal last month and the decision that interim coach, Ljungberg, is not the right fit for the club, Arsenal is set to appoint their former club captain, Arteta before the weekend.
As a matter of fact, the club has postponed its weekly Premier League press conference until Friday. Arsenal hopes to make an announcement of Arteta’s return which should see him sign a three-and-a-half-year deal as the new manager.
On Thursday morning, Arteta said his farewells to the staff at Manchester City. Despite the annoyance at City over Arsenal’s conduct, the club has not stopped the 37-year-old Arteta from succeeding Unai Emery.
For the move to be completed, a seven-figure compensation payment will be made.
The interim boss, Freddie Ljungberg is expected to take charge of the team for the final at Goodison Park on Saturday as Arteta watches from the stands.
Arteta’s appointment controversy
Nonetheless, controversies have been raised as to why Arsenal is taking a huge risk by naming inexperienced Mikel Arteta as its new manager.
Arteta’s appointment still looks like one hell of a risk. He could turn out to be a fine boss at Emirates and couldn’t be much worse than Unai Emery.
The trend is on hiring former players into the head coaching jobs. Example of Zinedine Zidane at Real Madrid, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Man United and Frank Lampard at Chelsea. And now, Mikel Arteta at Arsenal. This hiring trend is eyebrow-raising.
Arteta enjoyed a fine career in the Premier League. He knows Arsenal inside out having served as captain during his final season in 2015-16.
He was a favorite of legendary manager, Arsene Wenger and has long been regarded as an up-and-coming young bench boss.
The Spaniard has ideas about how the game should be played. He is a fan of the sort of all-out attacking that was the hallmark of Wenger’s legendary 2003-04 side. His lack of experience cost him in 2018. The problem is, the same knock on him still applies 18 months later.
Arteta has spent almost four years serving as Pep’s top assistant and learning from one of the finest tacticians in football management today.
But still, he has never served as the headman himself. That’s why putting him at the helm of a fractured squad that has won just one of its last 13 games under Emery and interim boss Ljungberg is such a gamble.
But then, we cannot raise alarms before we get to see what the Spaniard can offer for Arsenal. We wish him all the best in his new job though.