Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho has spoken of his admiration for Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta ahead of the north London derby this weekend.
The two clubs meet on Sunday as the two look to close in on the Premier League European places.
"I met Mikel when he was a kid in Barcelona, I was there with Mr Van Gaal, he was really, realy a kid. When you know this kid at this age, time flies, but in the end you always look at them as the kid you have a great feeling for. When he became Pep's asisstant I started calling him every time I met him Mister, not Mikel. I like him very, very much, I hope everything goes well for him in his career but in this moment he is in a rival club, a club that fights for the same thing we fight - a European position and I cannot wish him good in this position.”
Mourinho has outlined just how long he has known the Arsenal boss.
Arteta joined Arsenal in December, a matter of weeks after Jose Mourinho replaced Mauricio Pochettino at Tottenham, and the Tottenham boss has outlined the similarities in the roles that they have both taken on this season.
“The nature of his job is similar to mine, to Carlo (Ancelotti), you arrive in the middle of the season with a double focus which is not easy. On one side you want to get results immediately but on the other side you have an eye on the future. What you want is to build your own team, what you want is to start your next season.
“When you are in a relegation fight, for example, Neil Warnock going there, he knows that he needs a certain number of points, he knows what he has to do, in our case, it is different because we are speaking about very important clubs.
“Clubs that want to do better in the future. It's half now, half in the future. We all are desperate to have the end of season, holiday, preparation, pre-season and start a new season. The reality is we have to fight for points, which means Europa qualification and a special rival feeling between Arsenal and Tottenham.”
The two sides are separated by just one point in the Premier League table ahead of the weekend’s game.
