Mikel Arteta has once again paid tribute to Arsenal and the time he spent at the club, and confirmed that he’ll be joining Man City as part of Pep Guardiola’s coaching staff.
The Spaniard spent five years at the Emirates, and his time came to an emotional end in May as he made his final appearance for the club, and his retirement as a player is now official.
In a statement on his twitter account, Arteta said, “I can confirm that I will be leaving Arsenal and retiring from playing to take up a coaching position at Manchester City.
“I’ve enjoyed an amazing five years at Arsenal and it’s been an honour and a privilege to captain such a great club. I would like to personally thank the manager, board, all of my teammates and, of course, the fans for the fantastic support I’ve received during my time there.
“I am now looking forward to the challenge ahead of Manchester City. The opportunity to join Pep Guardiola and his team was an amazing one and I am incredibly excited for the future.”
You can read the full statement here, and nobody can blame him going to work for such an exceptional coach as he begins his own coaching/managerial career.
Who knows, it might stand him in good stead if he does ever return to the Arsenal in that capacity in the future.
Good luck, Mikel.
I know Wenger claims we can’t make space for him in our coaching department, but considering our u18s now have a shared head coach and even Tony Adams, I’m sure we really could’ve if we wanted to.
Not that he should even accept it. This is a great move and makes for great development as a coach then manager. Learning from Guardiola and also the City set up (right now the leaders in the country) will help him immensely for when he becomes an Arsenal manager. 🙂
The offer was there for him, but he chose City’s. Can’t blame him, really. It’s a more senior role vacant at City and he gets to broaden his coaching experience.
Whoops, managed to miss the second half of your post somehow before commenting!
Come on Tim, don’t try and do me like that.
I already gave you the idea to write the Sanchez as a CF article and even the idea that Jese Rodriguez fits the bill.
I thought our Twitter interaction made us besties?
Don’t worry you guys are still buddies. Aha
All the best to him……except when they play us, so I guess maybe not ALL the best.
Yes of course, we will win the double three years in a row and Guardiola and his coaching team will be fired for underperforming.
Thumbs up to your comment and your name ^^
Despite City being one of our main rivals these days, it’s an excellent opportunity for him and I wish him all the best.
I love the man so it’s a bit of a kick in the balls that he’s gone to join that lot. Hopefully he’s learned a lot under Arsene and will learn even more under Pep and then come back here to manage The Arsenal one day.
Thing is Arteta’s a top man. I don’t think he joined so much for City as he did for the chance to work with Pep. I don’t think it could be compared to Viera taking up a role at City, for instance.
Like you said, I think he’s certainly gonna learn a lot under Guardiola
Good luck to our beloved, former captain. I can’t fault him for taking this opportunity.
Good luck El Capitan. Painful to see you go to Man City, would have liked that you stayed at the Emirates. However, as him and Guardiola are really close from time ago it really isn’t a surprise. Better than being with Punchettino at the Spuds anyway. Hopefully he can learn a thing or two there and can come back one day to manage Arsenal.
Who agrees with me that Arteta going there is an under-the-table understanding between Wenger and him, such that the he shares Man City’s and Pep’s trade secrets to Arsenal? Now wouldn’t that be some kick-ass ballporate espionage.
Good luck to our captain, hoping to see him grow as a coach. Its actually a better coaching opportunity than what is being offered at arsenal, so we can not begrudge Arteta this opportunity, i wish for him all the success in his new adventure
Another one on the pay roll that will drain us without contributing much of nothing during the season. I will happily eat humble pie if I’m proven wrong but let’s get serious and bring in the top striker we need. August is upon us and before we know it a new season will be here. We’ve only bought 1 player so far…
Wrong article, I assume.
At least he showed some loyalty to the club that paid his wages for two years while he recovered from injury after injury, oh wait.
RVP tells it like it is and gets blasted as a Judas, Arteta does something similar and gets lauded as a hero.
Are you mad Mesut?
Yeah Arteta’s massively snaked us out here, imagine going and getting another job when your old employers respectfully tell you you’re not required any more. Absolutely outrageous if you ask me…
Simples.
He thanked the club and the fans and he didn’t make some utterly stupid public statement like, “This club no longer matches my ambitions.
I’m with you and am very surprised to see the outpouring of ‘good luck, Mikal’ comments. He is going to a main rival with all his inside knowledge of Arsenal, which isn’t good for us in any way.
No-one’s claiming it’s a good move for Arsenal (though it potentially could be if Arteta learns from guardiola and returns to us a better coach, not saying that will happen) but after 5 years of good service I don’t think there’s much wrong with wishing him all the best for whatever comes next for him
Good luck Mikel we will find it hard to “Lego” of you.
Coat on…:-)
Fark u arteta
No… Fark you Billy
More huff and puff over nothing.
There’s a vacancy at City so he went there (and the pay is reasonable)
There aren’t any vacancies at Arsenal. You can’t exactly throw someone under the bus just because you want to fit someone-else in.
Yeah, because we aren’t known to keep extra players and staff that we don’t need for an extra few years are we?
I think this Man City team will be a real test for Pep. I think he’s not the best manager in the world and I believe he will be found out.
The premier league is a different animal compared to the one team German league and 2 team la liga…. (yes yes i know atletico have broken in to the top tier but in general it is a 2team league). Man u, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal are all contenders, even Spuds now and any team can beat any other team that is how close matches have gotten now…
I am not sure about Pep command of English language maybe that will be role of Arteta. He is our hero he lost his tooth for this club
I hope Arteta comes back to manage Arsenal. If Wenger and Guardiola have faith in him, it’s an option worth pondering in the coming years. He has Premier League experience too.