Arteta is the youngest manager in the Premier League this season, and the Gunners have the youngest squad in the league. After taking over at the age of 37 in December 2019, Arteta led the team through a transformation and helped reshape and unite the club both on and off the pitch.
After winning the FA Cup at the end of his first season in charge, Arteta continued to refine our player system, while another important task in his eyes was to reconnect fans with this dynamic team.
Along the way, the team made some bold decisions. The youngest starting line-up of all teams in the 18 league rounds in the Premier League this season belongs to Arsenal (the basic average age is around 24 and a half years old), and the top two of our top scorers list are from the Gunners academy.
The club's summer signings also have a clear youthful bias, recruiting only players aged 23 and under, and such a policy is beginning to bear fruit.
On Tarsant's 40th birthday, we interviewed him and he talked about how he was reinventing the energy and enthusiasm up and down the club. But the first question is whether rebuilding the team around the youngsters was a deliberate decision.
"When I started coaching, I had a clear vision of what I wanted to achieve at Arsenal," said Arteta. "I want to build a winning division that is also financially sustainable. I hope this team can pass on the values, self-identity and passion of the club over the years.
"To do that, we have to make some important decisions to get the club moving in the right direction so that we can achieve that goal in the long term as well.
"There are some very difficult decisions to make. First, you need to come up with a plan. You have to have a lot of support from within the club to do that and then decide what needs to be right. ”
"I think one of our biggest successes so far has been creating a culture and atmosphere that belongs to the club so that our players, staff and everyone can feel that it's a place where they can reach their potential.
"It's a place where they can grow, they can participate and everyone can add value to the club. When you do that, you create a real sense of belonging to others, which is something more powerful than personal gain. I think that's one of the biggest takeaways we've had so far. ”
Although Arteta is currently the youngest manager in the league, he has a wealth of experience as a player, and he now draws on that experience when he spends time with young players.
At the age of 20, he played at Paris Saint-Germain with Ronaldinho, Okocha, Pochettino and Anelka.
It was the first time in his life that he had a real taste of playing for the senior team, when he was loaned from Barcelona, where he played for team B as a teenager.
He explains: "Throughout my career journey, whether as a player or as a coach, I have always had to adapt to different circumstances. You have to go into a new environment and give your all boldly and firmly. When I was in Paris, going to the country and leaving my hometown, the language barrier, was a big challenge. I got into a team full of stars, but the coach promoted me and gave me a lot of opportunities. Then you have to have personality and character to motivate yourself and seize opportunities. ”
"I think you need some old future to set standards and be role models for new people. They can guide you, protect you, encourage you, and turn your fears at this age into confidence. Then it's up to you to have the personality, hunger and passion to maintain that level. ”
"When you feel like their involvement has made a huge improvement to the team, as a manager you feel a great sense of accomplishment." Arteta added that he now manages the team and often thinks back to those days when he was 20 years old, as a player.
"You have to analyse the situation of the team and as far as we are concerned, our team is the youngest in the league. Then you have to analyze how you can maximize their potential. When you have a lot of young players in your team, you have to be limited by some objective conditions and have to pay tuition. They can make mistakes, and the first time they make a mistake, you don't know how they're going to react and how they're going to make it.
"For some of the younger players, the situation is more complicated and you need more support from the coaching staff, the fans, everyone around the club when these moments come.
"You have to have a unified understanding, to provide the right environment and protection for the players, and sometimes you need to push them appropriately, which is necessary. Obviously, we did a lot of work before signing them to understand if they could fit in and develop in our culture and if they had the qualities they needed to succeed in our team. ”
One of the non-negotiable issues for young players to succeed under Arteta is mastering the language.
"Playing in one of the most difficult leagues in the world also means different challenges for different people, depending on where you come from. But it depends on how much adaptation work they do. They may not speak English when they first arrive, but what can you do in a month or two? They may say 'language is difficult for me', but how much effort have you really put in?
"Because for me, language is absolutely fundamental. It is the platform for everything. If you can't master the language, you can't communicate, you can't make yourself understood or noticed. If you can't communicate, you can't create your image, your identity, in the dressing room and in the club.
"So I always stress when the players come in that the first thing is that you have to learn the language. You have to be able to communicate. Whether you're from our academy or where you are, it doesn't matter, you have to be able to talk to your teammates. It's something we value very much, because in my opinion, it's the key to success. ”
Fast forward ten years to Arteta's 30th birthday, when he had already played for Rangers, Real Sociedad and Everton before joining Arsene Wenger's Arsenal. At the age of 30, he was a mainstay in midfield, and by then he already had his own ideas for management.
"Yeah, I started having these thoughts when I was 27 or 28," he revealed. 'I was already preparing, I had that hunch that my body was going to start playing from a different angle very quickly.
"But at that time, I still enjoyed playing on the pitch and enjoying the great moments we had."
One of those great moments on his 30th birthday was the team's 5-2 comeback win over Tottenham at the Emirates football stadium. So, now that as a player and manager, he has experienced the North London derby, how does that feel compare?
"It's different because personally, the best thing after any big win is the atmosphere in the dressing room. Interact with the players and experience the emotions, the adrenaline rush and the spirit of team unity. It's unique, and I think it's something that the players have missed since they retired. ”
"And as a manager, you have that emotion and passion, but sometimes there's also a sense of relief. You're also thinking about players who don't have playing time, you think about the feelings of players who aren't playing, and you want to take care of their feelings. You want everyone to be involved and remind them how important they are to the team. At the same time, you're also thinking, 'Well, I need to prepare for the next game, what should I do?' So as a head coach, we can't stop, gasp for breath and rest.
"But most importantly, the feeling of being able to make your fans happy is very, very special. This is the most important thing about the job. We can make them feel connected to the team, and when they're with us, it's like they've added another engine to our ship to make it more efficient and faster. When you feel that their involvement has brought about a huge improvement to the team, then as a manager, you feel another sense of accomplishment. ”
So, as the youngest manager in the league, is he also particularly proud when it comes to beating his more experienced counterparts?
"Honestly, I really haven't thought about it because for me age is relative. It's relative for me as a manager, and it's also true for the way I look at the players. Because to me, what does that mean when people say someone is experienced? What kind of experience is abundant? That's what makes more sense. ”
"So how much experience do I have? Is it many or very few? I don't know because I've been in this league for 20 years. So even though I'm Spaniard, I have experience with the country, I live here, I know the league, the culture and the players. ”
"So I don't know, I just feel lucky to be a part of this club, especially at a time like this. I felt a real solidarity, I saw that there was an energy. When I look at the club, when I look at our home stadium, I see the energy of the team and the direction of the way forward. I see us as a whole coming together, which gives me the strength to say confidently, 'We can do this, we believe in ourselves'.
Arteta says it's this energy that makes him feel young and energetic as he ages.
"Yeah, honestly, I feel really young because I have a lot of young people around me," Arteta said with a laugh.
"Of course, the players are younger than me, but there are also some people who work with me who are older than me and who have corresponding responsibilities at the club.
"So I have a lot of young energy around me and a lot of experienced people around me, so it's a good match." I feel like I'm in the golden age of my life. I have three beautiful children who are growing up, a loving wife, and a family that always supports me in difficult times. ”
"I'm also lucky because I have a lot of good friends who I met through football and in the early stages of my life they knew who I was and what kind of person I was and I could trust them. So I would say that my life is stable, but it's also wonderful. I have enough adrenaline passion, but at the same time I have a family foundation and emotional support that I think is needed at this stage of your life. ”
At the club, Arteta is seen as a lively, fast-paced, energetic figure, does he consider his youth to be an important condition for meeting the requirements of modern football management?
"You have to realize that when you come in the door every morning, everyone is looking at you. When you're at Kearney or emirates football stadiums, you'll be scanned by everyone's eyes.
"You need to be yourself and I want people to understand that I'm here because I think I can provide the best version of myself for the club. It's all going to be through the passion, energy, and clarity I want to go. Because if you don't have these, you'll quickly find yourself incompetent. ”
This week is a very rare weekend to get away from football. He said he would spend some time with his wife and then have lunch and attend birthday parties with the children and the whole family. What about the future? Has Arteta ever wondered what he would do when he was 50?
He smiled and said, "I think I'm going to look older, that's for sure!" I'll have more gray hair, but I think I'll still have the same passion for my work.
"Hopefully by then we'll be able to take the club to a different level. I hope we'll make everyone very proud of what we've done. ”
(Arsenal Football Club)