Arsenal trust Arteta’s process after extending contract by two years
Mikel Arteta may have signed a two-year extension as Arsenal manager, but there are some of the club’s supporters who will be reserving judgment on this season, and by extension their manager, until the Premier League campaign is completed. Within the club, though, the view of the manager will not depend on whether Arsenal finish fourth – their current position – fifth or sixth.
Of course, a Champions League place is the goal, and Arsenal’s executives know they will not be able to consistently challenge for major trophies until they have reinstalled themselves in Europe’s premier competition. But the wider picture at the Emirates Stadium is one of promise and progress, irrespective of what happens in the final few matches of this season.
The club’s faith in Arteta has not wavered. The phrase “trust the process” has become a cliche, but the fact remains: their executives and their owners fully trust Arteta’s plan. The news of Arteta’s contract extension, which ties him to the club until 2025, should be regarded as confirmation of this belief in the Spaniard’s methods.
It is also a natural and obvious development after the considerable backing the club have given him since he took over in December 2019. Some of Arsenal’s progress this season can be measured in results: last year they finished eighth, this season they are on course to finish fourth. But it can also be measured in the mood and feeling at the Emirates
Stadium, where the atmosphere has improved dramatically from pre-covid times and there is now a genuine sense of “unity” – one of Arteta’s favourite words – between fans and players.
The youthfulness of the team is an important factor, too. Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith Rowe, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli and Aaron Ramsdale are all under 25 and should improve in the coming seasons. If phase one of Arteta’s great rebuild was centred on refreshing the squad and returning the team to Europe, then phase two is about taking the club to the “next level”, in his words.
Their budget in the transfer window will depend on which European competition they reach, but the planning has been done.
“The timing is perfect,” Edu, Arsenal’s technical director, said. “I really believe the message will be a big lift to everyone.
“To the fans, to the club, to the players, to Mikel. It is important to show everyone where we want to go as a club. We are going to face a big summer again, and it’s important to have our manager here.”
In other words: it helps, in the transfer market, to be able to provide certainties over the future of the manager.
For all the criticism levelled at
Arsenal’s owners and executives in recent years, it cannot be denied that they have supported Arteta.
Not only in the transfer market, where Arsenal spent around £150 million last summer, but also in the Spaniard’s various stand-offs with big-earning players.
Short term, it would be a significant achievement for Arsenal to finish in the top four. But this project is bigger than that and the progress they are making is real, whether or not it takes them to next season’s Champions League.