The worst kept secret of the week is finally out!!!
Arsenal have announced the appointment of Mikel Arteta as the new head coach of the club. The former club captain who was Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City signed a three and half year contract with the Gunners.
Mikel Arteta, a former Everton player, featured for Arsenal from 2011 to 2016 and won two FA Cups and two Community Shields in his 150 appearances. He made 132 starts, scored 16 goals, made 8 assists and was club captain.
According to Arsenal.com, Mikel Arteta said: This is a huge honour. Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world. We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game and that’s been made very clear to me in my discussions with Stan and Josh Kroenke, and the senior people from the club.
We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it. I’m realistic enough to know it won’t happen overnight but the current squad has plenty of talent and there is a great pipeline of young players coming through from the academy
Arteta becomes the 20th permanent managers appointed by Arsenal and will start on Sunday December 22, 2019. His coaching team will be announced soon.
The Arsenal board are excited about the return of Arteta:
We’re delighted to be bringing Mikel back to Arsenal. He knows our expectations and those of our fans around the world are high and we are confident he can play a lead role in taking the club back to the levels we all demand – Josh Kroenke.
We met several top-class candidates and Mikel stood out to every single one of us as the perfect person for us. Mikel understands Arsenal Football Club and what it means to our fans around the world. We look forward to him getting down to work and bringing the best out of our squad as we work to get our season back on track – Raul Sanllehi, Head of football
Freddie Ljunberg, who is interim manager after Unai Emery was sacked, is expected to hold the fort for the Everton game on Saturday. Will he sign off with a victory of Arteta’s former club?
He got an appreciation from Josh Kroenke: “I also want to thank Freddie Ljungberg for skillfully guiding us through the last three weeks. He stepped up at short notice and has helped us through this difficult period with great professionalism”
And from Raul Sanllehi: “I must also pay tribute to Freddie Ljungberg for his hard work and leadership. Together with Per Mertesacker, he has done a vital job for us in difficult circumstances. Freddie and Per are important parts of the Arsenal family and care deeply for this club”
Welcome Back Arteta!
Let’s get back to work!!!
Photo and quote from Arsenal.com
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