Mikel Arteta has emerged as an increasingly strong contender to replace Arsène Wenger as the Arsenal manager, with members of staff at the club expecting him to be offered the job.
Arteta, the former Arsenal captain, is building a reputation as a coach at Manchester City but he continues to be much admired by the Emirates chief executive, Ivan Gazidis, who is heading the drive to find Wenger’s successor.
Gazidis said on the day Wenger’s departure was confirmed that it would be important to be bold with the choice while he also alluded to how Arsenal had placed their faith in a relatively unknown manager in Wenger in 1996. “When Arsène was appointed, I don’t think he was on many people’s radar screens,” Gazidis said. “We need to be bold in the appointment.”
Gazidis remembers Arteta from his five years as an Arsenal player as the consummate professional and he knows the Spaniard from the Basque region would be able to represent the club around the world with dignity and be a convincing lead voice on the technical side.
Arteta has learned a good deal under Pep Guardiola at City and would have no qualms about working within the structure Gazidis has put in place at Arsenal, with Raúl Sanllehí – like Guardiola a Catalan – and the German Sven Mislintat in key recruitment positions.
On the other hand, were Gazidis to turn to Arteta, it would represent an enormous gamble. When the club appointed Wenger to the infamous “Arsene Who?” headline, he might have been unknown in England but he had won the French league title with Monaco and taken them to the European Cup Winners’ Cup final.
Arteta does not have a single game in management to his name. Max Allegri is the other name that figures prominently on Arsenal’s whittled down shortlist but there is concern he could be minded to stay at Juventus for another season to chase his dream of winning the Champions League with the club. Arsenal will push to see whether he can be tempted but Arteta is a realistic option.
