Arteta ahead of the rest in Arsenal race
MIKEL ARTETA will insist that he has a strong voice and a power of veto over transfer policy, with Arsenal preparing to announce the Manchester City coach as Arsene Wenger’s successor next week.
The Basque midfielder and former Arsenal player has been the front-runner for the post the past week and is favoured by chief executive Ivan Gazidis, who is now understood to have persuaded Josh Kroenke, son of owner Stan, of the wisdom of the move.
Though Arsenal legend Thierry Henry is being interviewed, as revealed in The Mail on Sunday last week, it is understood that the club view this as an opportunity to explore what role he will play in the rebooted Arsenal, rather than as a candidate for the manager’s job next season.
Julian Nagelsmann was Arteta’s strongest rival and championed by head of scouting Sven Mislintat. But the refusal of Hoffenheim to countenance him leaving, with the 30-year-old contracted until 2021, means that Arsenal’s chances of recruiting him have become negligible.
Gazidis is said to be convinced that a young coach and a fresh start is the best way forward, but it is evident that Arsenal would have been unable to recruit many of the names of their initial shortlist, such as Joachim Löw, who has extended his contract with Germany, Max Allegri, who looks set to stay at Juventus, and Nagelsmann. Luis Enrique was considered but his wage demands were an obstacle.
Arteta will spend this week finalising the deal’s details, recruiting his coaching staff and ensuring he has the right degree of influence of transfer policy. Arsenal are aware that the 36-year-old will not simply accept the recommendations of Mislintat, who is currently pursuing Bernd Leno, Bayer Leverkusen’s 26-year-old goalkeeper, and Borussia Dortmund’s 29-year-old central defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos.
Arteta’s strong personality is such that he will expect to have the lead voice on transfers, though, unlike Wenger, it is clear that he will have to work within a much more collegiate structure involving Gazidis, Mislintat, stats guru Jaeson Rosenfeld, head of football relations Raul Sanllehi and negotiator Huss Fahmy. Arteta’s drive was such that he was not always popular in the Arsenal dressing room, though that isn’t seen as a problem by the Arsenal board. Younger players tended to be the ones he irritated, but, according to insiders, it was due to his exacting standards, which is one of the reasons why he remained on Arsenal’s radar after he left in 2016.
Gazidis has purposely built an executive team to support the new manager and would argue that he has done so in order to free the former Rangers midfielder to focus on coaching and tactics, so that the business of getting deals over the line is the responsibility of others. However, Arteta will still want his say on the identity of those being recruited.
The relationship between Arteta and Mislintat and who gets the stronger say in identifying targets will be crucial. Arteta will also have to work with a limited budget, though selling Aaron Ramsey, expected to leave this summer, with just one year on his deal, may raise additional funds.
However, there is very little leeway for major signings, with Mesut Ozil on the equivalent of £350,000-a-week and Pierre-Emerick Aubemeyang, whose wages were revealed this week, on around £325,000 once his bonuses are included. The January window saw Arsenal spend £58million and swap Alexis Sanchez for Henrikh Mkhitaryan.