Arsenal: Rejuvenation the name of Mikel Arteta’s game
It is looking increasingly likely that Mikel Arteta will be Arsenal’s new manager. His first and most important job? Rejuvenating a stale and stagnating squad.
It remains to be seen who Arsenal’s new manager will be. Arsene Wenger’s announcement is three days short of being a month ago. Although the club rightly wanted to be respectful and wait for every second of his remarkable 22-year tenure to pass before they truly dived into the search for a successor, they have had time to form their thoughts and begin to implement their plans.
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And, ostensibly, those plans revolve around a 36-year-old who has never managed any senior team, only retired from playing two years ago, and is as much a teammate as he is a boss to many of the current players at the Emirates. Yes, Mikel Arteta is likely to be Wenger’s successor.
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It is a risk, that is for certain. Irrespective of the aforementioned youthful inexperience that would certainly scare most teams away from such an unabashed and brave appointment, Arsenal are in a position where they were hoping to unite the fans, not disillusion them. If there was any club for which the safe but sure avenue seemed like the sensible one, it was this one. And yet, here we are.
So Arteta enters a divided club and fan base, an egregiously evolving board that is surely yet to settle into its new pattern of working without the all-powerful Wenger and with the ever-wallet-protecting Kroenke’s still happy to puppet-string their way to pocketing an increasing share of the revenue, and an organisation that has lost its figurehead, like a boat without a captain, a plane without a pilot. This no enviable task.
So, how can Arteta solve all of these problems, while also ensuring that the problems between the white lines do not drown him like they did his old manager? Well, by solving those very inner-white-line issues, Arteta can offer a resuscitating and a refreshing to the stale and the stagnant that will inspire unity, togetherness, support, and, most importantly, positivity.
As much as anything, this is a culture-changing job. Yes, recruiting the right talent will be important. Yes, implementing the right tactics against the right opponents have an impact. Yes, galvanising the players, improving their games on the training pitch, motivating and managing them, will be crucial aspects of the role. But at the heart of it all, Arteta must change the very atmosphere at this club.
Next: Arsenal: 5 reasons to be optimistic about Mikel Arteta appointment
Rejuvenation is the name of the game for Arteta. Everything that he does must work to rejuvenate Arsenal football club. Can he do it? I have no idea, but it seems as though we are going to find out.