Mikel push for Arsene to return
TALKS ABOUT CLUB ROLE
MIKEL ARTETA has revealed he has been in talks with Arsene Wenger about coming back to Arsenal in an advisory role.
Since leaving the Emirates in 2018, the Frenchman has been working for FIFA on his project aimed at introducing two-yearly World Cups.
However, he was back in London this week to promote a new film of his life and Arteta, who was Wenger’s captain for a couple of years, went along to support him.
Arteta said: “There has been communication, and I saw him and talked to him when we went to see the film.
“It was incredibly pleasant to chat to him – and hopefully we can bring him close.
“He would have a great time just seeing the environment that he can create around him and around this place because of the respect and admiration that everybody at the club has for what he’s done, as well for what he represents as a person in this club.”
Wenger always said he would not be interested in a “position upstairs” at the club he served for more than two decades as manager.
However, as time has passed and other front-line management positions have failed to materialise, he has become more amenable to the sort of behind-the-scenes presence Sir Alex Ferguson has had at Manchester United.
That said, there is still no real sense of what Wenger’s job title would be.
“I cannot tell you now, but what I can say is that I would like him to be much closer personally to me,” Arteta said.
“It would be a great help and it would be a great help for the club. Things take time, and he has to dictate those timings. What I can say is we would be delighted to have him much closer.”
More pressing, though, is a reunion of a different kind, with Arteta coming face-to-face with the first manager he locked horns with in the Premier League. Eddie Howe was Bournemouth boss when Arteta took charge of Arsenal for the 1-1 draw on Boxing Day 2019.
Now Howe is looking to be in the dugout for Newcastle’s visit to the Emirates tomorrow, despite testing positive for Covid only eight days earlier.
Newcastle have been told he will be cleared for the match, having sat out the game against Brentford last weekend, providing a test today proves negative.
“That is why we have the regulators,” Arteta said. “I am sure they will be aware of all the protocols that they will follow.
“I don’t know every single detail but I am sure if Eddie is on the touchline it is because he has been through everything necessary.”