Arsenal: Mikel Arteta needs more than just time

Mikel Arteta is reportedly the number one choice as Arsenal’s new head coach. Should he be appointed, the former midfielder will need more than just time.

Well, we are finally seeing some movement on the head coaching front. Following more than two weeks of quiet, whispered rumours but little else, who Arsenal will pursue to succeed Unai Emery has been a question with very few answers provided — or far too many potential answers provided, perhaps.

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But after Sunday’s hapless 3-0 defeat to Manchester City, it seems as though the cogs are now turning and movement is coming. On Monday, wide-ranging reports throughout the British media claim that the club has entered into talks with the very team that beat them at the weekend regarding the possibility of appointing their assistant coach, Mikel Arteta.

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Arteta has long been linked with the job at the Emirates. He was in the frame when Emery was hired in 2018 and only passed on at the last second and is largely viewed as a stylistic and characteristic continuation of Wenger’s great years, Arteta obviously having played under Wenger, representing his values and philosophy on the pitch as club captain.

But while Arteta is heralded as a terrific coach by Pep Guardiola and the City players, understands the Arsenal values and supporters’ desires, and speaks perfect English with extensive experience of the Premier League and English football, he is an unquestioned risk. This is a man who has never managed any team, not even a youth team, nevermind one that is looking to compete at the highest level of the sport. He would be entering a job that he has never done before.

As such, time will be Arteta’s most precious commodity. He will need patience from the board and plenty of rope from the fans to make mistakes, learn from them, and develop as a coach and manager. Because there is no doubt that he will make mistakes. Anyone in this situation would.

But while time will be Arteta’s most important need, to turn around the depth of this Arsenal team, he needs far more than that. Stan Kroenke must invest, Raul Sanllehi, Edu and the scouting department must recruit better players, and the current players at the club must work harder and commit to the new regime, something that they have proven incapable of doing with two managers already this season.

As Sunday proved, and the rest of the campaign, for that matter, the Gunners have issues from the very top to the very bottom of their club. Mistakes have been made at every level of the organisation. It is foolish to think that changing the manager would fix all of these issues.

So yes, hiring Arteta might well be a step in the right direction. And yes, he certainly needs time to construct the team and club as he would like. But he needs a whole lot more than that. Arsenal, as an entire club, must change, not just the head coach.