After Arsenal confirmed Mikel Arteta had extended his Arsenal contract until 2025, technical director Edu explained why the club feels the Spaniard is the right man to take the Gunners forward.
“I always say to be a very good manager you need three good characteristics,” said the Brazilian.
“I think he has all of them. You need to be a good communicator, like he is. He needs to be a guy who controls the tactics and understands the game very well. And to manage people.
“That’s the three key points needed to be a very good manager. Of course, there are a lot more as well, but those are the main ones, which he controls very much. That’s why he’s doing well and is a very good manager.”
While we’re cynical enough to believe the timing of the news has, at least in part, been engineered to steer the narrative of the final episode of Amazon’s upcoming ‘All or Nothing’ documentary – set to be released later this year – Edu was quick to point out the benefits of creating a sense of stability ahead of a summer that will be shaped by negotiations with existing players and potential new signings.
He also hopes it’ll galvanise the squad as they try to secure Champions League football in the next three weeks.
On announcing the news before the end of the season, Edu said: “There are a lot of reasons why. First of all we can put our plan in place, and secondly it’s important to show everyone where we want to go as a club.
“We are going to face a big summer again, it’s important to have our manager in here because people are asking us ‘what about his future? What about the team? This season how are we going to play?’
“Then we can prove that we are continuing with this manager and keep playing the way we are. So that helps us a lot. I think the timing will be perfect, I really believe the message will be a big lift to everyone. To the fans, to the club, to the players, to Mikel. I think it will be brilliant and I’m looking forward to it.”
For his part, Arteta says he hopes the news will provide his players with a final push as they head into crunch games with Leeds, Sp*rs, Newcastle and Everton.
Edu and Arteta, two midfielders for Arsenal, taking us from midfield towards the top.
Theh have good link up play.
Top 6 was surely the objective at the start of the season, and he’s secured that with 4 games to go. Therefore, he has earned his new contract.
Now to surpass everyone’s expectations and finish in the top 4. Come On You Gunners!!
For me it was correct to wait until top 6 was secured.
Outside of top 6 would have been failure in my eyes given the resources he is given and the “licence to kill” some of the clubs “stars”.
Let’s go for top 4.
COYG!
Except they apparently offered the contract when top 6 was far from assured and the the wheels were coming off. Regardless, it was still the correct decision, even those three defeats could not undo the obvious progress Arsenal made this season.
I think Edu is the one who needs to leave. He was behind several disastrous moves in the last many years that have cost Arsenal dearly.
“Paul Merson has mocked Edu’s work in recruitment at Arsenal, claiming he could do a better job as technical director, and questioned why the Gunners did not try and sign Aston Villa’s Danny Ings this summer.
Arsenal have spent more than any other Premier League club this summer, forking out £156.8m on Ben White, Martin Odegaard, Aaron Ramsdale, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Sambi Lkonga and Nuno Tavares.”
– The Metro, 2 Sept 2021
Just gonna leave this hear lmao.
No room at the Ings, Merse.
I love Merse to bits, but there’s a reason why he’s a pundit and not a technical director/coach/manager.
Perry Groves didn’t nickname him Stanley Unwin for nothing…..
Everyone makes mistakes, it’s how you learn from them that matters, Edu’s on a good trajectory. Nobody in the current set up needs to leave, we’ve had a positive season, need a good window and can look forward to an even better season to come!
While I agree that Edu should be replaced. I don’t think it’s fair to lay the blame on only his doorstep. For instance, Guendouzi and Mavropanos leaving for peanuts wasn’t just on him. Arteta played a major part in that too. Auba’s contract extension and departure wasn’t just his fault either. He also wasn’t the only one who played a part in rejecting the bids for AMN and Bellerin as well. He wasn’t the one who convinced a certain Brazilian he could win the Champions League here, nor was he the one who allowed that Brazilian to sign his contract… Read more »
Considering the baptism of fire both Edu and Arteta have been through since they re-joined the club, who are the first two players you’re mentioning…? Mavropanos, who’s about to relegated (along with the anti-Arsenal crowd’s fave DoF Sven Mislintat) in a league where Timo Werner, Reiss Nelson and Jadon Sancho looked like the children of Pele. And Guendouzi. Did anyone see Guendouzi’s enraged 20-yard sprint directly at the ref last night after he blew the whistle confirming Marseille’s loss to Feyenoord? He made such a fool of himself. No wonder Edu’s haters admire him so much. Guendouzi is exactly the… Read more »
The Mavropanos revisionism is a good example of a one-sided understanding of everything. If we get a good price for Iwobi or Willock–well that’s only normal, what we should have done. If we pay a lot for Ben White and Ramsdale, that’s the subject of torrents of criticism until they quickly come good–and then it’s forgotten. If we get Martinelli and Tomiyasu (and really, Odegaard) for far less than they are now worth–hardly a word. But letting Marvopanos go–though he had hardly played, and was injured, that shows how screwed up Edu is. I cannot think of a young player… Read more »
Saw that. Aside from being a bit stronger, Guendouzi is the same player he was 2 years ago. Brave but slow and technically limited. He isn’t starter level on an top 4 premier league in my opinion. He wasn’t worth keeping around considering his petulance. Getting a £8-10 million option doesn’t seem like a terrible deal. Yes if we’d kept him and forced him in the starting line up for every game maybe we could have pushed up his value a bit higher but With the exception of a few games when we were short he wouldn’t have merited a… Read more »
Spot on. I’ve never seen so much pearl clutching by portions of our fanbase as I have over Guendo. The guy is bang average, has the football IQ and positional awareness of a squirrel while being a prick to boot.
I wouldn’t want him anywhere near this group of young, team 1st players. Good riddance.
So much emotive language, yet very little of an argument made. How does any of what you typed provide a justifiable reason for why Douzi and Mavropanos were sold for far below their value? Mavropanos, who’s about to relegated Conor Gallagher, Wijnaldum, Andy Robertson, Roy Keane, Ramsdale and Jagielka were also relegated. Terrible players right? in a league where Ah yes. The tinpot Bundesliga that catapulted Sane, Dzeko, De Bruyne, Konate and Aubameyang into the Premier League. Did anyone see Guendouzi’s enraged 20-yard What do emotional outbursts have to do with a person’s skill level. Matteo is amongst the top… Read more »
You grossly overrate Guendo. Guy is bang average and has tanked his own value by being a prick. He wouldn’t make the roster of any top 10 team in the EPL.
Can you name some?
I’m 100% certain Edu got 2/3 of the way through his list of things you need to be a good manager, went blank, and ended on “and, uh, you need to be able to manage people.”
haha…Edu going “You need three things” and listing out the three and then going “you need other things as well”
Arteta is an ambitious young manager; he wants to mix it up with the biggest names in the sport, playing in the biggest games.
I am sure he has seen a pathway to that in his talks with the Kroenkes.
I am almost certain he has extracted concrete assurances from them on their willingness to get him good quality players – especially considering the threat of Newcastle and their new found wealth. Make no mistake, it will take more to excel in the EPL in the coming seasons.
plus in his comments on signing he mentions recruitment more than once.
I think they have an ozil-esque plan in place (referring to the out of nowhere giant name signing for us)
“We are going to face a big summer again this year.” Musuc to my ears. Really liking the direction we are headed.
“He needs to be a guy who controls the tactics and understands the game very well. And to manage people.”
Is he talking about arteta?
Piers?
Definitely a good early decision.I was one very concerned about Arteta’s capabilities but he has proved me wrong.We should applaud Edu and Arterta in the summer transfer window they did a good job.Now results showing
There has been a contract timing problem with the club. Is this an indication of a plan to start fixing that issue? First they had to clear out the situations with players they could do nothing about – check done dusted. Next step is more difficult – how do you stay out of those situations? Is it having tranches of players of certain positions/ages/values where you can make decisions in batches? I have literally no idea – but maybe we’re seeing the beginnings of a long term club contract timing strategy.