Former Everton midfielder Tim Cahill has praised the work of his close friend Mikel Arteta at Arsenal since he took charge of the Gunners earlier this season.
The Gunners have improved significantly under the guidance of their former captain, despite their exit from the Europa League, and stood unbeaten in the Premier League this calendar year before the coronavirus led to the suspension of the league.
Arteta will face an unprecedented task if the league resumes, with the matches likely to be crammed into a short period of time, and it will also likely lead to disruption in the summer transfer window.
The signs so far have been good though and Cahill has said that he felt Arteta always held the credentials to become a top-class manager.
"You only have to look at the clubs he’s played for," Cahill told Sky Sports. If you go back to Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, Rangers, Everton and Arsenal," he told Sky Sports.
"You only need to think of the coaches he’s worked under and players he’s been around. Mikel was always a coach, even as a player.
"He would take in information, he listened, and he would always look for other options. At the same time, he would talk to the players constantly.
“He’s a good leader and he’s someone I struck a good friendship with because we had a natural understanding on the pitch, just from his movements and the way he crossed the ball. We talked in and outside of training, analysing the teams we’d be coming up against and we analysed ourselves.
“I think him being at Manchester City was fantastic, but this had to happen. He had to fly the nest, and Arsenal is an amazing club.
“He has the attributes to first change the culture, what the club is about and the brand of football, and you can already see how the players are taking to that."
