Tag Archives: Mikel Arteta

Arsenal target Steve Bould replacement

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There has been a lot of talk about Mikel Arteta and Patrick Vieira being on a short list to replace Arsene Wenger.

When you look at the other 3 names being heavily linked – Max Allegri, Luis Enrique and Joachim Lowe – the former Arsenal players are clearly inferior in terms of top level experience.

I have a theory that is not as left field as it might seem.

Arsenal are interested in recruiting Mikel Arteta and / or Patrick Vieira to join the coaching set up at the club, with the view of replacing Steve Bould and / or Boro Primorac.

With Wenger leaving, it is hard to see how Primorac remains at the club. He was bought in by Wenger, he is Wenger’s man, he is the assistant manager in all but job title, and will join Arsene wherever he go’s. There is also the potential the Neil Banfield, another bought in by Wenger in 1997, will also move on.

You then have Steve Bould. What does he actually do? Is he actually any good?

Arsenal will look to make a senior appointment. A well established manager who is recognised throughout the world as one of the best managers in the game. They will want to avoid the mistake Manchester United made when appointing David Moyes.

Moyes struggled to attract players to the club in his one and only season. Like it or not, Wenger was a draw at Arsenal. Mesut Ozil, Alexis Sanchez and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all mentioned that Arsene Wenger was part of the reason they joined Arsenal.

Picture the situation. You have Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta (at Arsenal) chasing a player. Who is that player least likely to be interested in playing for? Now change Arteta to Allegri, Enrique or Lowe. It will suddenly prick up their ears.

I honestly think Bould will follow Primorac out of the door when the new man comes in, and want Arsenal want is for Enrique, Allegri or Lowe to bring in their own coaching team, but also integrate either Arteta or Vieira as Assistant Manager.

Picture the scene. Luis Enrique is announced as manager. Arteta, a Spaniard who knows Arsenal is his assistant.

Or Max Allegri is the choice, and alongside him is Arsenal’s last great captain – Patrick Vieira. And Vieira spent 6 years playing in Italy.

Both will do the multi-role of coaching players, being the link between the players and manager, translator and ensuring that the new manager understand what it means to be at Arsenal.

At Barcelona, Raul Sanllehi clearly liked to promote from within – or employ former players – as manager.

It was during Sanllehi’s reign that Pep Guardiola promoted from manager of Barcelona B to the full team. His next appointment was Tito Vilanova, who was Guardiola’s assistant manager.

Luis Enrique followed Guardiola into the Barcelona B job. He then spent a year at Roma and Celta Vigo, before rejoining Barcelona.

The only time Sanllehi went away from getting in someone with “Barcelona DNA”, it was a colossal failure. Gerardo Martino managed the club between Vilanova  and Enrique.

Ernesto Valverde was his most recent appointment. The Spaniard spent 2 years at Barcelona in the late 80s.

The remit given to Sanllehi when he joined Arsenal would have been “turn us into Barcelona” so it is only natural that he follows the same blueprint that Barcelona used so successfully under his guardianship. Recruiting from within.

He would have assessed those currently at Arsenal, the likes of Steve Bould, and decided that they are not managerial material. That means he needs to look outside, those who are not currently with the club.

The likes of Arteta, Vieira, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry. The problem is all these names are unproven, and he has not seen them work. So a move for a big name manager seems natural – with Arteta and / or Vieira joining the coaching set up.

It will then be up to one of those two, alongside Per Mertesacker, to continue their development whilst the new manager is in, putting themselves in a position where they are ready to take over in 2 or 3 years time when he stands down.

I can easily see the next 10 years of Arsenal managers being (for example): Allegri/Enrique > Arteta/Vieira > Merteseacker.

And all of this is just idle speculation.

Keenos

Who is in line to replace Arsene Wenger at Arsenal?

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Yesterday we discussed who would replace Arsene Wenger in the short term, were he to leave his role before the end of the season.

The reason this was discussed was mainly down to top targets not being available in the summer. Someone like Joachim Low is busy with preparing to led Germany to the defence of the World Cup they won 4 years ago. He will not chuck that in to become Arsenal manager 4 months early.

The likes of Andres Jonkier, Marco Silva and Carlo Ancelotti were mentioned as possible short term replacements, if Wenger were to leave this week. So who are the long term replacements?

Carlo Ancelotti – The experienced Italian is immediately available and could come in as a short term option who could be kept on for the long term if the club performs.

He is a Premier League winner with Chelsea and is one of the most highly rated managers in the game.

However, he has only won 4 league titles since 2000, despite having managed AC Milan, Chelsea, PSG, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Critics will say he is too similar to Arsene Wenger. That he does not concentrate on tactics to stop the opposition and leaves a lot to the players to make decisions on the field.

He left Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in similar circumstance, and there is talk that his methods are now outdated. Would he just be Wenger Mark II?

Leonardo Jardim – when you have unlimited funds, and manage the likes of Manchester City, PSG or Manchester United, you do not need to be a coach. You do not need to improve players. If someone is not good enough, you merely sign a replacement.

In 2017, Leonardo Jardim led Monaco to the French league title, as well as a Champions League semi-final, with a vibrant young team. Up against PSG in France, he had to bring through and develop talents like Kylian Mbappe, Thomas Lemar and Fabinho.

His team knocked Arsenal out of the Champions League three years ago and he has a contract until 2020. At just 43, he is young and fresh, whilst also have 10 years experience as a manager.

Joachim Low – With a set up that is set to include Germans Sven Mislintat & Per Mertesacker, German national team manager Joachim Low looks a fairly natural fit. Add in Shad Forsyth, who spent 10 years working with the Germany national team, and Low could fit right in.

With Mesut Ozil,  Shkdoran Mustafi, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Granit Xhaka and Sead Kolašinac all having come from the Bundesliga, German could be the new French at Arsenal.

The only question mark over Low is his club management credentials. He has not managed at club level for 14 years and he had 7 jobs in 5 years.

Brendan Rodgers – A lot of fans will mock any opinion that Brendan Rodger should be anywhere near the list of potential Arsene Wenger replacements. But it has to be remember he was one Steven Gerrard slip away from winning the title with Liverpool.

He has since gone to Celtic to rebuild his career.

Whilst any success in Scotland with Celtic is nothing to shout abut, his methods and experience would be suited to Arsenal. The biggest problem is the supporters. His appointment would fail to unify the fan-base following the intense and often angry debate that has surrounded Wenger.

Mikel Arteta – Currently working as an assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and, while he has no managerial experience and would represent a gamble, he is well regarded at Arsenal following five years there as a player, including two as club captain, between 2011 and 2016. He is well known to Raul Sanllehi, Arsenal’s new head of football relations, as well as to Gazidis.

Roberto Martinez – I thought Martinez’s name would no longer appear on lists involving “next Arsenal manager” after he was sacked by Everton, but he needs to be added back on. Not because of himself, but because of who he might bring in as an assistant.

Currently managing the Belgium national team, Martinez was joined in the set up by Arsenal Club record-scorer Thierry Henry, who saw working with Martinez as an opportunity to gain experience.

Henry returning would unite the fans. The only issue is having said that being managing Arsenal  would be a potential “dream” job , would he really give up that comfortable, warm, 2 days a week job with SkySports, for a similar paid job as Martinez’s assistant at Arsenal?

No Henry, no Martinez.

Keenos

Arsenal’s Trolley Dash Transfers

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August 2011. Arsenal had just lost 8-2 to Manchester United. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain making his debut. It was a disastrous day. One of the most embarrassing defeats in recent memory – and there has been a few.

The defeat led Arsenal to carry out a supermarket sweep on the final days of the transfer window.

Having only signed youngsters Carl Jenkinson, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Joel Campbell (who would not get a work permit), alongside the African-Messi Gervinho, Arsenal were horribly short of players. What resulted from that day was a deadline day dash to boost the squad. 5 players in, 1 of which on loan.

But what happened to those 5 players?

Park Chu-Young – Monaco – £1.8m

The signing of South Korean Park Chu-Young will always be a mystery. He was on his way to a medical to sign for Lille when Arsene Wenger got a sniff that he is available. Rather than get on a train to his medical, he got the Eurostar to London. Lille declared him missing, Arsenal were hiding him in a hotel.

He made his league debut for Arsenal as a substitute, 82 minutes into a 2–1 home defeat by Manchester United, on 22 January 2012, 6 months after he signed. And he was never seen in a Premier League game again,.

Talk about him having to leave after 3 years to do national service was as exciting as it got.

He was then loaned to Celta Vigo and Watford, before making a permanent move to Al-Shabab in Saudi Arabia. After a year there, he returned to his native South Korea. Not to do military service, but to play for FC Seoul.

A regular for his country before he joined Arsenal, the transfer not only killed his international career, but his footballing career.

Andre Santos – Fenerbache – £6.2m

With Gaël Clichy, Arsenal expected 21 year old Keiran Gibbs to step up as the next great Arsenal left back, with Armand Traore providing cover. Gibbs started the 2011/12 season injured, meaning that Traore and Carl Jenkinson played left back. After the 8-2 defeat, in which Traore started and Jenkinson got sent off, Arsenal targeted a senior left back.

In came Brazilian international Andre Santos. A man known for his attacking exploits.

He ended up performing better in the Arsenal Fish Bar than on the pitch for Arsenal. Always carrying a bit too much timber, he was awful.

He was dumped back to Brazil, then went to India, Switzerland and Turkey. He is currently captain of Boluspor.

Per Mertesacker – Werder Breman – £8m

The Big F’ing German bought leadership and stability to the club after the 8-2 defeat. He soon found himself as first choice centre back at the club, playing alongside either Thomas Vermaelen or Laurent Koscielny – depending on who was fit.

He went on to become an important part of Arsenal defence, leading the side to 3 FA Cup victories, winning the World Cup with Germany, and winning his 100th international cap.

Still at the club, he is set to retire at the end of this season and take up an academy coaching role.

Mikel Arteta – Everton – £10m

There have been very few deadline day dramas like Mikel Arteta’s transfer to Arsenal.

Throughout deadline day, the transfer was on, then off, then on, then done, then off, and then suddenly, just before the window closed, it was confirmed, Mikel Arteta was an Arsenal player.

Most agreed that we had signed him 3 years earlier – the year we tried and failed to sign Xabi Alonso.

Rather than joining to partner Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri in the midfield, he was their replacement.

His first 3 years at Arsenal were excellent. But then he lost his legs.

The final two years at Arsenal were ruined through injury – has anyone every recovered from losing their legs?

I will always remember when he captained the club for most of 2014, including the FA Cup Final, only for Thomas Vermaelen to do a John Terry and lift the FA Cup despite not playing. Luckily he got to lift it as captain the year after.

He scored on his last game (cruelly changed to an own goal by the FA) and retired. Instead of joining Arsenal’s coaching staff, he took himself to Manchester City, where he is still part of Pep Guardiola’s coaching set up.

Keenos