City tell Arsenal to pay £2m for Arteta’s services
New manager expected to be announced today Spaniard’s first match set to be on Boxing Day
Manchester City were last night demanding that Arsenal pay a full £2 million in compensation for Mikel Arteta as the north London club prepared to unveil their new head coach today.
Arteta said his farewells to City staff and agreed a 3½-year deal with Arsenal, his former club. His first game as a manager will be on Boxing Day, when Arsenal travel to Bournemouth, after it was decided that there was not enough time for him to take control of the team for tomorrow’s match against Everton.
Arsenal’s lawyers finally made contact with City late on Wednesday night, before Arteta’s agent then approached the Manchester club yesterday afternoon. As of last night, there had still been no formal agreement between the clubs over the Spaniard’s departure. City remained furious at Arsenal’s conduct and were refusing to negotiate over an exit fee of £2million.
Sources at Arsenal suggested there had been informal discussions between Raul Sanllehi, the club’s head of football, and Txiki Begiristain, City’s director of football, who know each other through their spells at Barcelona.
City refuted those claims and remain unhappy that formal conversations had not taken place between the respective executives of the clubs earlier this week, given how advanced Arteta’s discussions with Arsenal had become.
Arteta has kept City manager Pep Guardiola fully abreast of the situation, though, and the champions have had no issue with the conduct of their assistant manager.
The situation will put a strain on the future relationship between the clubs, although City have made no attempt to block Arteta from accepting his first managerial post.
Arsenal and Arteta remain in the process of recruiting the 37-yearold’s backroom staff, with a full announcement not expected today on who will be joining him in the dugout. Arsenal executives have high hopes for Freddie Ljungberg, the interim head coach who will oversee the team against Everton, and hope that the Swede will remain.
Arsenal’s recruitment of their former captain has been completed within the time frame the club expected, even if photographs of their executives leaving the Spaniard’s house on Sunday made it clear that the appointment was imminent.
There was little surprise yesterday morning when Arsenal announced that their scheduled press conference with Ljungberg, due to be held in the afternoon, had been postponed. Arteta will now be unveiled today before he travels to Everton, another of his former clubs, where he will watch tomorrow’s match from the stands.
He arrives at a challenging time, with fixtures against Chelsea and Manchester United following in the week after the trip to Bournemouth. His new side are 10th in the Premier League and are seven points away from the top four after only one victory in their past 12 matches in all competitions.
Arsenal’s primary objective is to qualify for the Champions League, although the Europa League will provide Arteta with an alternative route. They meet Greek side Olympiacos in the last 32 in February.
Among the issues Arteta must confront are the contracts of key players such as captain Pierre-emerick Aubameyang and striker Alexandre Lacazette. There are also doubts over the future of Mesut Ozil, who is the club’s highest earner on a wage bill that needs to be reduced as a matter of urgency. Reports in Turkey have said that Fenerbahce could be interested in taking Ozil on loan.
Arteta made more than 100 appearances as a player for Arsenal after joining from Everton in 2011, winning the FA Cup twice. He was made club captain in 2014, although injuries subsequently restricted his playing time in his final two years in north London.
After his retirement, Arteta was offered a coaching position within the Arsenal academy, but ultimately decided to work alongside Guardiola, with whom he had played at Barcelona.
Speaking after making an emotional farewell to the Emirates Stadium on his final game, Arteta said: “I have felt honoured to play for this club and captained this place. It is going to be hard to move on. I am leaving, in my opinion, the best club in England, for sure.”