Mikel Arteta dismissed speculation linking him with the Barcelona hot seat after Xavi Hernandez confirmed on Saturday night that he will step down from his role as head coach in the summer citing the club’s need for a “change of dynamic”.
Almost immediately, the Catalan press turned their attention towards possible successors with Sport – whose editorial team might as well work out of the Nou Camp – claiming Arteta, who was raised at La Masia, was ready to quit Arsenal in favour of a new challenge at the end of the season.
While the Gunners privately briefed a rebuttal via their own contacts in the media, Arteta made clear in Monday’s press conference that he’s happy at Emirates Stadium and has no intention of leaving anytime soon.
“That’s totally fake news,” he replied when asked if he’s weighing up a departure.
“What you read yesterday, I don’t know where it’s coming from, but it’s totally untrue. I’m really upset about it.”
"That's totally fake news" 😤
Mikel Arteta says he will not be leaving Arsenal this summer ❌ pic.twitter.com/k38CCgfe65
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 29, 2024
Asked to explain why the report upset him, he continued: “I could not believe it. I don’t know where it’s coming from. It has no source, it’s got nothing and I think we have to be very cautious when you talk about personal things, to put it in the way that it was put yesterday.
“I’m in the right place, I’m with the right people, I feel really good about it,” he added.
“As I’ve said many times, I’m immersed in a beautiful journey with this football club, with this place, the staff, our people and there is still a lot to do.”
“I’m really cautious about when I talk publicly about my personal things. And when someone puts a statement saying something that I said or did, it is upsetting. I understand that we are in this industry.
“I don’t think anyone deserves to hear that in news like that. I’ve always been really straight and I always said completely the opposite, how happy I am, how grateful I am and how much I enjoy where I am right now. So that’s the reason why I’m upset.”
Given his connection with Barcelona, his growing reputation as a coach and the fact his current deal at the Emirates ends in 18 months, being linked with one of the biggest clubs in the world, whether there’s anything behind it or not, is not the worst thing in the world for Arteta.
“That’s something that we cannot control, it’s part of football,” he said, “but that’s something very different to someone putting a statement about something that I’m doing. That’s very, very different.”
Presumably, the Arsenal hierarchy will want to open talks over a contract extension relatively soon but for the moment, Arteta is relaxed on the subject.
“I’ve got a strong relationship with the board, with Edu, with the team, with ownership and things come in a natural way, and we’ve always done it that way and it worked out really well. When the time is right, we will have those discussions and I think that’s the best way to do it.”
He certainly doesn’t sound like a man who is going to walk away soon, saying: “There is a lot to do here, and we all share that ambition, and you can feel it as well, that we want more, that we’re not satisfied, and the club wants to take again another push and another level in everything that we are doing. And this is what we are. And we need everybody on board to achieve it and I’m certainly on board.”
Excellent
He will be coach at Barcelona in the future. No doubt about that. Whether it’s after xavi or after someone else is the question…
Didn’t doubt for a second, Vamos Mikel!
Fvck Barcelona, fvck the ‘Barca DNA’ bullshit and fvck this shit biased newspaper.
Thank gabriel jesus Arteta’s Barca DNA has been superseded by some Everton DNA and then mostly Arsenal DNA. He’s never struck me as the sort of guy who aches to go back home, he’s been in England for what, two decades now? He’s clearly pretty settled here and likes it somewhat, and it likes him back (ok at least the parts of it not inhabited by utter cunts, or related to PGMOL)
I reckon he will go and coach in Spain at some point but not in a rush to do so, certainly not if it means prematurely abandoning a project he’s more or less just started here.
“I am upset about it” sends a strong message out.
I was SUPER upset when Fabregas left for Barca *in THAT manner* those many years ago, and their current sufferings are food to my soul. Long may their decline continue. Despicable lot.
In the timeline where Fabregas stays at Arsenal, we don’t sign Arteta and as a result he doesn’t develop the relationship with the club that leads him to return later as manager. And wherever he is managing on this alternative timeline, the Barca coaching role is probably attractive. Closing doors and all that…
I genuinely hope they cease to be a club and all their shitty fans and shitty ex players wallow in the dirge after years of cheating. Fuck uefalona.
Why is Arteta upset about fake news? He will be upset every day in the future, I guess.
We’ll never forget. It’s somewhat surprising that a club of such stature, surrounded by such “romanticism”, are utterly bereft of class.
Emphatic statements from Mikel. Good stuff. Tabloids existing in their own realm of mass misinformation as usual. It’s pathetic how standards of media, politicians, and corporate elites, their insatiable appetite for lies and misinformation and the impunity with which they are able to deliver it. But hey, everything is the fault of the “wokeists” (aka reds, commies, hippies, beatniks, libtards, socialists) and immigrants. The masses are fed scapegoats by the media, politicians, and corporate elites to divert attention from themselves – the Billionaires who are 100% the source of ALL the problems. This tactic is 100s if not 1000s of… Read more »
You’re not wrong but alas the “light” at the top of the pyramid highlights the darkness below.
I.e. the masses will mostly remain ignorant, in the dark and in a race to get by, and that’s how the system works for now.
It is all invented of course but I wouldn’t have any problems with Arteta being interested in Barcelona because it goes both ways. If he doesn’t deliver, like we finish 10th of the league, I will want him sacked.
Good. If they’re going for a UK-based manager it should be Graham Potter – somebody who has shown he can manage young players and tight budgets, which frankly is the only real way out of Barcelona’s financial hole.
Wayne wazza Rooney is also free and available. As is Frank cuntpard
So you come here to make people laugh, you comedian.
Wayne Rooney would be perfect. Make this happen!
Graham Potter managed tight budgets at Chelsea, I guess, lol.
He’s played that well. Just enough to keep the board on their toes and ensure his contract is where it should be and just as importantly, he gets the funds needed to continue with building The Arsenal into a superpower.
Playing what well? A rumour emanating from the lying Spanish press had nothing to do with Arteta.
No, but he has taken the opportunity to use it to his advantage. And why not?
Extra, Extra: Football article in Spanish press is made up bollocks! Full details on page 7.
Other news: Sun comes up, Pope still Catholic, bear shits in woods.
At least no one ran out and tried to pull a Barca shirt over him.. That was painful when that happened and so disrespectful.
My reading of this is that he understands and can live with stories that he is “in the picture” for a post. What angered him was that the story claimed he had told friends he was interested, and he hadn’t.
Barcelona can’t sink fast enough. Fuck that club and their “DNA”.
Is he still here
Oh yes he’s going to do a Wenger, spending the next ?? years bleating on how he could have gone here and there etc. Barca would not & could not waste 65mill on the German Giraffe anyway.