Thread by @RealTalkMCFC

Thread on Mikel Arteta’s major impact at City and how he has been key to City’s recent success

At the end of his career at Arsenal, Arsene Wenger allowed Arteta to lead training sessions on numerous occasions after impressing him with “his eye for small details”. Even Arsenal-players, staff members and the club board were convinced that Arteta had a big future as a coach.

According to reports, Arteta impressed Wenger, Arsenal-players, staff members and the club board to such an extent that he was immediately considered as one of the favourites to lead a post-Wenger Arsenal. Arsenal were keen to hold on to him once he announced his retirement.

Mikel Arteta’s reputation as a promising young coach, however, got the new City-manager at the time, Pep Guardiola, interested in bringing him to City as part of his coaching staff. Arteta knew that this was a fantastic opportunity to learn from one of the best managers.

At City, Mikel Arteta devoted much of his time to work closely with Raheem Sterling. Arteta has, by both Pep and Sterling himself, been given credits for Sterling’s tremendous transformation over the last few years. Again, it’s all due to his eye for details.

Pep Guardiola on Arteta’s impact on Raheem Sterling:

“Mikel Arteta is working many, many hours and days after training specifically about the last action on the pitch – that control in the last moment to make the right movement in the final three or four metres.

Mikel Arteta’s importance to Pep can be seen in this GIF below. Against Arsenal last year at the Emirates, City were struggling to “kill off” the match. Arteta noticed how Arsenal-players were dropping too fast and deep on crosses, and therefore he instructed Mendy... (1/2)

... to put cut-back passes into the box in the space which Arsenal-players had left open while dropping deep. Bernardo Silva scored on this and won the match for City. As you can tell from the GIF, Pep and the rest of his staff credited the goal to Mikel Arteta. (2/2)

Here’s some praise from highly respected managers:

Mauricio Pochettino: “Mikel Arteta has the capacity to be one of the greatest coaches in football, for sure.”

Arsené Wenger: "For Arteta, does he have all the qualities to do the job? Yes."

Pep Guardiola: "I said after a few months together he would be a manager. He is already a manager - he behaves like a manager."

Mikel Arteta is in fact a very popular figure among the players. He’s an important “link” between Pep and the players.

Gabriel Jesus on Arteta a few days ago: “He’s helped a lot of players. When I want to do finishing after training, I tell him and he comes and helps me.”

After learning from the best manager itw for the last 3 and a half years, considering all the praise from managers and players, I personally believe that Arteta is the right man to take Arsenal forward. They’ve got nothing to lose at this point.

However, I don’t believe that the results will improve over night. This is a project, and just like Pep, he’ll need some time to implement his style and get the players that he knows will improve the team. His coaching and personality will genuinely be missed at City.

No one can ever deny the fact that Arteta was/is a leading contender to replace Pep one day. It’s a reason for it. It’s a reason why he’s being praised. Right now, he looks like a young 2008-version of Pep Guardiola to me who’s taking his first big steps into management.

Now that I’ve reached the end of my thread, I would just like to express my greatest gratitude towards Mikel Arteta for his magnificent impact on City over the last few years. Thank you SO MUCH for the trophies and all the joy. I wish you nothing but success at Arsenal 🔵