Three years after ending his playing career with an emotional standing ovation at Emirates Stadium, the Spaniard returned to attempt to emulate some of Wenger’s success at the club.
It is certainly not lost on the 44-year-old Premier League champion that he got the chance to work under one of the game’s most accomplished and respected leaders. So, what was the Frenchman’s impact?
“Well, huge. I would not be sitting here if it was not for Arsene. First of all, the opportunities that he gave me to be a part of this incredible football club,” Arteta said.
“Everything that I learnt from him about values and about how somebody at that level has to behave, has to treat people and has to operate.
“The level of honesty and loyalty that he always showed towards everybody, and then his philosophy about the game and how it has to be played: the roles of the players and how you want to feel when you enter that field.
“I think he’s unique in that he has that aura that ignites something different in you. Then, after that, he supported me as well in my first steps as a coach.”
Still a relatively young manager, Arteta has already achieved a great deal at the club with the long-elusive Premier League title still fresh in the mind.
“I think we have reached a mountain, but not the highest one or the one that I certainly visualise,” he says of the Premier League triumph.
“We have achieved an objective, which was part of a chapter, and then we have to go to the next one.
“We talk about being able to win again, and especially how we are going to approach that mentality and that journey. It is very, very important, and I am super excited about it.”
The toughest thing? “The consistency, and that is probably the hardest thing to do.
“To keep all the things that have taken you to reach that objective, but actually being able again to inspire and to lead those guys, that they can still reach another level and the same ambition.”
Arteta has been blessed to have a number of legendary mentors within the game, but he looks much further back when thinking about his core identity and inspirations.
“I always talk about my parents,” he continued. “I think they are the ones that have always driven me to go and explore and fight for what I wanted to achieve without any limitations and without any judgement.
“My ecosystem since I was a child, where I was born, I think already creates an identity in you.
“My parents have a massive influence, my sister, and then the football, because since I was one or two, I was extremely attracted to it.
“Through football, I have been given the opportunity to travel the world and to have some incredible experiences in this journey and to fulfil my dream.
“I think sport has brought people into my journey that have been critical, and maybe a few of them, but especially coaches that I have shared incredible experiences with, and players who have been in that journey that have made it very, very enjoyable.”
Arteta on the outside influences driving Arsenal forward
Arteta reveals impact of relationships with coaches and leaders from other sports
Video credit: TNT Sports
Long known to be an admirer of leaders in other sports and industries, Arteta provides a fascinating insight into the value of such relationships, providing different perspectives from outside football.
“Especially, I tend to do that, because we are not in the same league; we are not in the same sport,” he explains.
“So straight away, I think the openness and the way we can share information and experience, it is different.
“There is no rivalry, there is no competition, so everything is much more natural, and then because I find it fascinating to learn about other industries and about other sports.
“Basically, to be able to evolve, to improve and to be able to offer more to the club and to the players in different experiences to make them better.”
Is he still part of WhatsApp groups of coaches from across different sports and beyond?
“Yes, we have had a few groups in the last four or five years,” he confirms.
“There was a WhatsApp group that we used to get once every month for discussions, for ideas, and then I still have some very, very close relationships with most of them.”
Given a pair of headphones to listen back to extracts from his first press conference as Arsenal manager at the end of 2019, Arteta smiles as he remembers the emotions that were bubbling up.
“I was so driven, so passionate, so grateful, and I couldn’t wait to start working,” he recalls.
“I had a total conviction about where I wanted to help take the club, and since then I’ve been so bang into it to bring everybody on that journey with me.
“I didn’t know when, with a time-frame, but I was convinced that at least I was going to be able to help to connect everybody to feel proud and to give a very, very clear identity and competitiveness to the club.”
Back to the present, as he eyes more domestic glory and a European triumph, he ponders the challenge of maintaining such a finely tuned winning culture.
“Well, first of all, maintain a lot of the foundations and the powerful thing that we have within the club and within the team, the habits and the behaviours that we have,” Arteta said.
“To be able from there to evolve and be very curious to evolve, very willing to go again and find the best version of yourself.
“I have to be someone that is able to ignite and lead that mentality every single day, so that we are always better and we are always improving.
“There will be setbacks and there will be learning moments for us, and they are going to make us better.”
When asked if it’s possible to teach individuals how to be winners, Arteta is clear: “I think you can ignite that competitiveness within people, but I think you have to have it already.
“You need an edge to be able to do that, because when you are a winner, you are a winner when you are training, when you are playing padel or table tennis or chess or whatever.
“You actually love winning, and it is something that you strive for. If it is not there and it is not natural, maybe you can do it for a period of time, but long-term, I think it is difficult to achieve.”
Having already proven that he and his players are winners, he knows that continuing their formidable momentum will be the biggest challenge of all.
“[Finding] the consistency is probably the hardest thing to do,” he concluded.
“To keep all the things that have taken you to reach that objective, but actually being able again to inspire and to lead those guys, that they can still reach another level and the same ambition.”
– – –
