Various reports this morning suggest that Mikel Arteta has signed a new one-year deal with the club.
The Arsenal captain was not on the list of players released by the club last month, despite the fact his contract was due to expire at the end of June.
The Spaniard’s last campaign was riddled with injury, affecting his form, and seeing him out of action since last November. However, his experience and dressing room influence is something Arsene Wenger views as valuable as he looks to maintain a squad capable of a title challenge next season.
Back in May he spoke about his desire to stay, and said the injury absence had been a learning experience for him.
“It has been a strange season with my injury but I have learned a lot away from the ‘barrier’ of playing, I have learned to have a different input into the team,” he said.
That input was illustrated by Jack Wilshere who revealed the captain had put together a video and speech ahead of this season’s FA Cup final.
Whether his new contract excludes the manager from making a further signing in the midfield department remains to be seen, but it’s clear he feels the former Everton man can make a contribution to next season.
Arteta’s Arsenal stats
Appearances: 136
Goals: 16
I like Arteta, hes a great leader and when fit a great player that can dictate the pace of the game.
He will make a very important contribution this coming season.
Quite unnecessary to put “Arteta’s Arsenal Stats” in such big, bold letters when there are only two of them, old boy.
I was gonna do more but it was so early in the morning I gave up
Would you mind at least adding assists and the number of times his hair has been out of place?
HAIRS OUT-OF-PLACE: 0
Teeth lost in action – 1
… so he grew a tooth? 🙂
Honestly, I don’t get it. He is about average in what he does and I don’t see the need to offer him a new deal. Cut him loose! I hope the reports are falsy
I love that this comment comes from someone called Cygan.
Jealous of the lego-haired one?
I’m pretty sure he would make a brilliant coach so I wouldn’t end the contract in such a way. He’s a true gentleman too.
There’s plenty of evidence indicating otherwise.
http://statsbomb.com/2014/01/what-does-a-great-defensive-midfielder-look-like/
(Note that the article is written by a pool fan.)
no, no, no! You don’t get rid of personalities like this. Even if he doesn’t play much, he will have a positive affect on younger players and teach them a lot about professionalism. He can backup Coqulein just fine; he’s even ok about being a squad player.
Him and Flam are both contracted for another year. Looks like they are the back up to Coquelin. Not so ruthless here.
Couldn’t agree more. He may be a nice bloke but unfortunately he is a mediocre defensive midfielder. if arsenal are to move to the next level these are positions that have to be improved. He’s just average at everything – aside 5 yard passes and penalties.
Off topic – unbelievably disappointed that we signed Petr Cech. He’s not even the best keeper in London. Hugo Lloris takes that particular accolade.
Not that I agree with you, but why did you stop there? We did sign him from Chelsea which is a London club, so by your logic Courtois should be ahead as well. Are you even more disappointed now?
you really think Spud we sell us Lloris after what happen with Sol.
except if Levy has a death wish keep dreaming
Cech is better than Lloris anyway.
I agree completely. Arteta signing a new contract is very bad news if it is the difference between whether or not we strengthen the defensive midfield position this summer. Yes his leadership qualities and experience are useful, but his ability on the football pitch is simply not good enough any more. The only way we could have made the most of him is to have signed him a few years earlier, not in the last peak year of his career
Can’t disagree. He’s in his mid-thirties and getting increasingly injury-prone. Any club with serious ambitions, not just to overtake Chelsea but to build a team to become a real force in Europe, would have replaced him a couple of years ago with a real DM who was younger and better. That’s if they had the money, of course. Thing is, I’m not sure that we have, and the advantage of Arteta (apart from his niceness and hair) is that he’s not costing us much in wages – allegedly he took a wage cut (from Everton, no less) to join us.… Read more »
Probably thumbed down for comment length. Know when to give it a rest love.
Aside from Arteta and Flamini, we have another DM in Isaac Hayden though he has been playing as CB lately. However, his initial position was DM as I remember and could be another hidden gem. He is same age as Chambers, but given his experience in midfield, he would be better choice in DM than Chambers, IMO.
He is tall, physical and comfortable on the ball and could be the next big thing given enough time, though he has a lot to learn.
Amen
Well, to everything apart from the playing as a cb thing. He played there for the first team in the League Cup against Soton (and was ours MOTM in my opinion), but as far as I’m aware pretty much always plays dm for the reserves, just that he’s had a worse year injury-wise than anyone else bar possibly Gnabry so has barely played. If it weren’t for his ankle injuries I suspect we may have seen him come in and Coquelin stay over at Charlton, though obviously how he’d have fared none of us know. Funny how things work out,… Read more »
We don’t know for sure that Wenger wants Flamini to stay though, do we? The way I remember it, everyone thought he was out of contract this summer, but then he came out and said he had another year on his contract. He didn’t say he had signed for that extra year recently, so we don’t know that Wenger definitely wants to keep him. Or is there any news to indicate otherwise that I missed?
I re
LOL..wasn’t meant to be impersonating a jamaican
*I re-member even in his brief appearances last season he could be instrumental to our stability. Particularly that game against Anderlecht at home where we capitulated moments after he was forced off through injury. If his legs can carry him through, he has the experience and mentality to do good for the team. More than happy to have him for another year!
Mmmmmmm lego
I think Wenger won’t buy anybody in the DM position, even if he loads Flamini out. He still have Arteta, Chambers, and Bielik. But seeing Wenger’s ruthlessness on the GK position, i could be wrong.
No, no, your initial assessment is correct.
Hail Indonesians 🙂
I think his biggest contribution will be around london colney and the dressing room. In my opinion i think wenger has realised that in order to win the league, you need alot of experienced heads in the dressing room. For me keeping arteta and rosicky around for next season will go along way in a sustained title push. Not too fussed with flamini though, although his first season back i thought he was brilliant. Just all depends if flamini, arteta and rosicky are all happy as bit part players in a title chase next campaign. Otherwise i can see 1… Read more »
I think he’s a good player, I just hope this isn’t at the expense of Schneiderlin, I’m fed up of getting to the CL knock out stages, and quarter finals of the league cup and thinking glorious failure might be for the best? because we don’t have a squad good enough to compete on four fronts, and we’re not good enough to win the CL anyway. This might come across as negative, but we’ve been here before, we play in half seasons and there’s still a gap between us and the rest, even though we’ve shortened that gap, I consider… Read more »
Agreed. If we want to push for Premier title and do well in CL, we need someone of Schneiderlin’s capability in defensive midfield. I love Coq, but a little pressure for the place and an alternate option would be great. not to mention the positives of taking him from under Manure’s nose. I love that we’re keeping Arteta for one more year – just to give some maturity and leadership off field. I Love Flam’s passion, but he needs to be moved on. Pleased to see the rumours of that today.
No complaints about this, but Flamini really should go. Even if we have to buy him out of his contract to make room in the squad. Having him in there is literally counterproductive and we need to strengthen in that position. Though I have my doubts over whether there’s any intention to. Which seems to be at odds with the ruthlessness of the Cech signing.
Squad space isn’t actually an issue for us.
We currently have a squad of 26 players over 21 (16 not home grown). Of those I think we can expect Jenks, Campbell, Sanogo and one of Ospina, Martinez or Szcz to be loaned or sold.
So sitting on 22 squad players to be registered. Means we can easily buy more without having to ship out Flamini or anyone else.
Perhaps Arsene sees Arteta more as a backup to Santi now.That leaves Flamini as backup to Coq. He’s a bit more limited but with a year left on his contract it remains to be seen whether AW will move him on. With a better balance between defence and attack I’m not sure he’ll be as bad a backup option as people make him out to be. Plenty of time for surprises but i don’t expect much beyond a Poldi replacement given Alexis will need a rest and a striker (or someone who can cover both positions).
Back up to Santi? I wonder where you put Ramsey and Jack in your squad list.
Jack doesn’t seem to have a position yet & seems to want to play in an advanced position. Ramsey is more box to box not a deep lying playmaker like Santi. In terms of combinations of players assuming Arteta as DM in a game instead of Le Coq or even Flamini I could only see him paired with Ramsey & definitely not Santi or Jack. In the few games he played last season he had some decent ones playing as a deep lying playmaker alongside Flam (they were his best games too). Hence my hugely popular suggestion that he’d be… Read more »
Quite apart from the experience that Arteta, Rosicky and Flamini bring, I also think that to have a really strong squad you not only need a couple of excellent players vying for each a position but also a small handful of players who are happy (or at least prepared…) to spend a large amount of time on the bench but who are disciplined enough to be fit when called upon to see the last ten minutes of a game out or fill in for the odd game here and there. That was a long sentence.
Happy he’s staying, veteran leadership and someone who can play a role, even if only as a sub. Now to sign Benzema.
The role of DM was redefined with the emergence of Coq where he has no distributional role, he only has to set in the back while the ball would be pass by the CD to wide areas, for that matter I think Arteta will be able do that, and not that he is unable to pass the ball which he masters decisively, it is just the task was simplified in the new system
..best of luck to him
Coquelin is often brilliant at distributing the ball, don’t know what you’re on about. He does much more than just win tackles. See his brilliant ball out wide that lead to Walcott’s opener in the FA Cup final for an example of him switching play up and getting an attack going.
This is not about judging Coq, I liked the guy even before he becomes central figure in our midfield. I am just stating facts that the system has changed the way I described above, the box to box and the DM are no longer in charge of ball distributions instead the defence does that which will simplify the role for Arteta, you can verify that by watching our last few matches. This how we play now and it works brilliantly.
Well that is why wenger plays carzola next to him instead of ramsey. Ramsey can’t play as a metronome(probably spelt it wrong) like santi. So as long as coq plays in the middle, he’ll always be paired with santi.
With arteta playing, only then can ramsey play as a b2b.
Sorry but I’ll thumb down any comment which includes that horrible mis-spelling of Santi’s name. If you’re an Arsenal fan, you can at least get the teams’s names right, surely.
it’s Cazorla, ok?
It was an honest mistake…check my previous comments.
And is you thumbing me down suppose to hurt my feelings or something??
Kids these days….
With you there. The Z and R are nowhere near each other.
Arteta is a great leader… We need him for the title push.
Don’t forget that its the same Wenger who gave 6 years contract to Diaby when he knew he was always having injuries. Three years contract for Flamini tells you Arsene is not ruthless. Too many benchwarming oldies in the team:
Flamin
Arteta
Rosicky
Is Arsene really frugal in expenditure? We can’t win the league with such players making up the maximum 25 players. Rosicky wants to leave yet he does not want him to leave meanwhile he sits on the bench.
Strangely, all non-fits who get good contracts at Arsenal are managed by DARREN DEAN. Coincident?
One word on Wenger’s ruthlessness: Cech.
That’s shit. Rosicky is quality; art eta has a lot to offer and I’m glad he signed another year. We are a classy club that honors its loyal servants. We don’t want just a bunch of mercenaries so we don’t act like it. Stop playing FIFA and remember we’ve got class. We want loyalty so we show it.
And don’t bad mouth Rosicky again. He’s a great player and there’s a reason we fans love him so much.
Yeah what he said! Love you Tomas…
Harp on about showing loyalty all you want, but he has made a good point.
I’d keep rosicky for his ability and for him to act as a mentor, but arteta and flamini do not add anything to this team.
We need a new DM and a ST…no time to be sentimental
So, let’s say Coquelin gets badly injured in the 5th game of the season… Then we are back to pre-Coq Arsenal which was an inferior Arsenal. Surely we’re not going to risk that, we have not in any other position. Hope not.
I don’t disagree but remember Chelsea have no serious back up to Matic. I think FFP has ended the ‘2 top class players in every position’ wish. Even Barca, Real Madrid and Bayern’s squads have a lack of depth in some positions.
Just because Chelsea’s squad has about the depth of a kiddie pool doesn’t mean ours should too. Their squad was 3 injuries away from a complete and utter breakdown all of last season, and I don’t think that’s a model we should be looking to follow. With a sensible wage structure, fair sponsorship deals and a solid fanbase of people who buy tickets to watch games (a combination of which none of our competitors seem to have) FFP leaves plenty of room to have two players you trust in every kind of game for every position. I think that’s the… Read more »
Sorry I disagree. FFP is a factor in depth of squad. If not then why does the RM squad lack depth at centre back and CDM? Actually the current Barca side does not have real quality depth at the back either. I want us to sign a player to cover Le Coq, but Wenger may be thinking of keeping his money in the bank in case a match winner becomes available for 30million plus later in the window. Cech was by far our most important signing this window unless we sign Messi/Ronaldo. He makes us 10 points better straight off.
Dreamer. Keep fantasising
Another myth…mikel might not be as dynamic as matic, but he is just as good in doing the basic job: shielding the defence.
That chelsea scored is far more balanced than ours.
Totally agree with you! It’s my biggest concern. I think Coq / Arteta could cope ok through the season if they stay fit. I think Arteta’s actually a better option against plenty of opposition, especially at home.
But the thought of losing Coq long term and having to rely on only Arteta and Flamini is a bit scary.
#inshadwetrust
Arteta does what Santi did for us last season. His ball skills complement what the Coq brings very nicely. You can’t have one without the other.
That’s a Coq and Ball story if ever I heard one!
lol……well played!
Well laid… Maybe
We will need more than just a destroyer at DM – Coq showed some better distribution towards the end of the season – so is he pure destroyer? Someone who has the ability to control the ball well and distribute the ball especially playing at home against the lower placed bus parking teams. Still quite a long time to go in the transfer window, so could still see some movement in the market. These contract extensions could just be an insurance policy if the right player does not become available or being able to get a fee if the likes… Read more »
I think we’ll see Coq pulled against some of the deeper lying teams, like happened a few times near the end of the season. It was obvious after a while that we didn’t need him so we had a midfield trio of Ramsey/Santi/Ozil. Scary, those three. And while not secure for higher quality attacking teams, a pretty good option for breaking a stubborn defense.
Experience is all very nice but when your feet and legs are behind your thinking then its time to let them go, Arteta in most games he played when fit got caught many times on the ball putting the team under unecessary pressure, how many other sides in the prem have the team captain on the bench, AW did the same with TV. A team captain needs to be on the pitch to be influencial, think he would be great for the club on the back room staff, think he is doing his coaching badges so maybe the thinking is… Read more »
Arteta was trying to run with a serious ankle problem last season, and we played him into the ground the seasons before that. I’m really glad he’s signed for another season as he’s a really good player and leader, and a fit and rested Arteta is going to be a real asset to the team.
Why so much hate on Arteta from some people. When he got injured, we suffered pretty badly from it last season. Only player that can dictate the tempo of the game.
No Arsenal fan hates Arteta, quite the opposite. They may doubt his physicality now and ability to be a DM, but that is very different to hating.
Arteta and Flamini falls short when we face pacy and counter attacking teams.
Liverpool v Arsenal 5:1
ManCity v Arsenal 6:3
Chelsea v Arsenal 6:0
Though they didn’t both play together in any of those matches.
Bar the end of the Chelsea match when already heavily losing and down to 10 men.
Thank you CB for showing up a pulled-out-of-the-arse ‘fact’.
Christ I’d almost forgotten those God awful performances. Those performances a thing of the past, fingers crossed.
To be fair, I think Wenger understands Arteta and Flamini can’t really do the DM role to the standard that is required to be competitive. Think he’s keeping Arteta round as a back up midfield partnership to the DM role, to compensate for the lessened distributive capacity the role of a pure DM in the side offers.
If the right player is available for us to invest in, I have no doubt Wenger will sanction it.
His experience is good but what he can contribute to the team I think is limited now. I don’t expect us to sign a new defensive midfielder, which I think were regret. Wenger was ruthless in regards to Cech but there’s no doubting that he’s bias towards certain players and Arteta is certainly one of Wenger’s favourites. i hope I’m wrong and Wenger surprises us again but don’t count on it.
Arteta was never an out-and-out DM in the Coquelin/Carvalho mould but what he is is a perfect partner for one of the traditional DMs, perfect in retaining possesion and pinging passes to start and attack, in current scenario, the Cazorla’s deep lying midfielder role. I personally believe this shows we want to retain experience and most importantly, ready made depth. Ramsey and Wilshere seems destined to be this role in the future, till then, probably to be content with the wide/inside right midfield role which I think brings so much benefit to the team balance as a whole. Don’t blame… Read more »
IMO you cant be a great leader from the bench, sure people can learn from you at training and you can guide players with your experience but if you cant even get in the team.. Who are you leading ?
No problem with him staying, I like the loyalty being shown towards him, hes a Gooner but for me not a starter and defo not a DM
Il Capitan Mikel de Lego Man Amatriain Arteta!
I think it’s good to have Arteta for another season. Like others, I don’t see him in the regular starting 11, but he can still play an important role on and off the pitch. We had several nail-biting wins last season and I see having someone like Arteta with a cool head and ability to retain possession and dictate the tempo of a game to be a great asset to help finish out close games where we are leading by a goal.
he brings experience but his legs are gone and gets destroyed by pace. Him and Falmini are not great backups for Coq!
Anyone else really wanna see the video and hear the speech? :s
Happy with this.
Can be paired with Aaron or Jack when Coquelin needs resting (we aren’t always going to need Coquelin’s skill set for every game).
Or can be brought on to help us suffocate the life out of a game, with that metronomic, disciplined ball recycling he does so well (after we’ve gone 2-0 up or something).
Also, he’s a proper Arsenal man. Lives and breathes the club. Can’t see anything wrong with this signing.
Awesome news, even tho the fact his legs are giving up a bit already, is always great to have a player like him, he is by no means a bad footballer, au contraier he is great at dictating the tempo (only worry with him is rly his pace), and a great professional and role model, and we can always use the experience that him and rosicky brings.
arteta is a bad signing. there’s already too much competition for the man playing beside coquelin so arteta isn’t needed there, and there’s no way arteta can fill coquelin’s roll if he’s injured. the funds are available and schneiderlin would definitely represent an upgrade so i can’t see why we wouldn’t sign him (or someone similar). as for the argument that signing another DM is harsh on coquelin, it’s no harsher than welbz competing with giroud, or ox competing with walcott, or jack competing with ramsey, etc. competition keeps players focused and driven. as for being harsh on arteta, maybe,… Read more »
Love this link someone posted earlier:
http://statsbomb.com/2014/01/what-does-a-great-defensive-midfielder-look-like/
Arteta is similar to Pirlo, great at long passes, maybe not as good at somethings, but better at others – like tackles and interceptions.
Put a couple of hardworking box-to-box midfielders either side of him, and we have another dimension for Arsenal to play with…
I run a very good sales team of 20 people and I have one that doesn’t set the world on fire with his sales figures but the business he writes is always perfect, his few customers that he does have like him, his colleagues like him and he is a solid professional giving me no trouble ever.
There is always room for one of those in any team imo.
Actually his hair is not great…maybe I will have a re-think…:-)
Well i suppose wenger will need to give his Coq a rest sometimes.