Mikel Arteta has been Arsenal’s manager for four and a half years. The Spaniard made the move from Manchester City in December 2019 after Arsenal sacked previous manager Unai Emery halfway through the season. When former club captain Mikel Arteta returned to the Emirates Stadium as the new Arsenal manager, the Gunners were positioned around mid-table teams and were unable to produce any form of consistency.
Arsenal finished the 2018/2019 season in 5th place, failing to qualify for the UEFA Champions League (UCL) but managing to clinch a UEFA Europa League (UEL) spot. Midway through the 2019/2020 season, it looked like Unai Emery hit a brick wall and lacked innovation to compete for points. Arteta concluded the English Premier League (EPL) season in 8th place, however the lower league position was generally overlooked by fans because of his FA Cup triumph.
While many fans believed this was a sign of better things to come, in four and a half years Arteta has only won the FA Cup once and Community Shield twice. The FA Community Shield does not carry any weight in football and is widely considered a pre-season friendly among the likes of Emirates Cup and Audi Cup. The Spaniard has undoubtedly made the Gunners competitive once again in England as they went toe-to-toe against his former employers Manchester City for the EPL title in two consecutive seasons. Nonetheless, Arsenal have been left empty-handed on both occasions, which begs the question — can Mikel Arteta lead Arsenal to EPL or UCL glory?
How much money have Arsenal spent during Arteta’s reign?
According to Transfermarkt, Arsenal have spent approximately £670 million since Arteta took over in 2019. During his 18-month spell at the club, Unai Emery spent a mere £150 million and still managed to conclude his first season as Europa League runners up. In the current transfer market, £150 million is not nearly enough to sign two world class players, hence Emery was forced to replace mediocre players with average players.
When Arteta inherited Emery’s squad, the players lacked quality to compete for a top-4 league position and despite their unbelievable performances in the FA Cup, the Gunners were knocked out of the UEL just after the group stage in the round of 32 and finished 8th in the league. In the previous season, Unai Emery was arguably in charge of a inferior squad and managed to reach the EFL Cup quarter-finals, UEL final and claim a 5th place league finish.
During the 2020/2021 EPL season, Arsenal spent £82 million in transfers with the aim of cleaning out the old and tiring players and welcoming upcoming prodigy’s like Gabriel Magalhães and Martin Ødegaard. In Arteta’s first full season as manager, Arsenal were knocked out of the EFL Cup in the quarter finals, defeated in the FA Cup 4th round and concluded the season in 8th place again for the second consecutive season. The only improvement from the previous season was that Arteta managed to reach the UEL semi-final.
The following season, Arsenal owners decided to back the Spaniard financially, increasing Arsenal’s spending to approximately £157 million. Following a similar pattern, Arsenal swiftly exited the FA Cup in the 3rd round, managed to reach the EFL Cup semi-finals and finished the league in 5th place without playing in Europe the entire season. The league position was an improvement as the Gunners nearly snuck into the top-4, however Arteta’s record in tournaments remained poor despite the large summer spending.
During the 2022/2023 season, Arsenal spent approximately £180 million in transfers and were finally performing at a high level. Arteta made this squad his own with the turnover in players and began turning the wheels in his favour. The Gunners concluded the season in 2nd place, just 5 points behind champions Manchester City. Nonetheless, the Spaniard’s subpar record in other competitions continued with a loss in the EFL Cup 3rd round, followed by an FA Cup 4th round defeat and a loss in the UEL round of 16.
Ahead of the 2023/2024 season, Arsenal spent £238 million in transfers — Declan Rice made headlines with a record breaking move from West Ham, costing the Gunners £105 million. Ironically, West Ham were the team to knock Arsenal out in the EFL Cup round of 16. Arsenal exited the FA Cup in the 3rd round and managed to reach the UCL quarter final while also concluding the season in 2nd place again, this time just 2 points behind record-setting champions Manchester City.
Finishing in the runners up position for two consecutive seasons is definitely an improvement from where Arteta and the team were two years ago. However, I don’t believe the £670 million spent is justified because the Gunners have wound up without any silverware during all these seasons and clearly Arteta’s record in other competitions are below average. The Arsenal manager has completely customised the squad according to his vision and tactics after being backed financially. Nevertheless, Arsenal have not secured a competition final since 2020 when Arteta lifted the FA Cup after inheriting Emery’s squad.
Is Arteta getting the best out of his players?
It’s indisputable that Arsenal currently posses players with unlimited potential who have shown their ability on various occasions against top oppositions. Arsenal are also the third-youngest team in EPL, hence it would take an experienced manager to nurture the potential in these young players.
Since Arteta took over as manager, several players have made a name for themselves — captain Martin Ødegaard, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Declan Rice, William Saliba, Ben White and Kai Havertz. Everyone on this list is 25 years old or younger, with the exception of Ben White (26 years) and majority of these players have been playing together for over two seasons now which is plenty of time to build chemistry on the pitch.
Saka has already established himself as a formidable winger for Arsenal and England — regularly starting for both club and country. Saka has registered 20 goals and 14 assists in 47 appearances this season in all competitions. Compare that with Cole Palmer who is the same age as his countryman. Palmer has scored 27 goals and assisted 15 times in 48 appearances across all competitions in his first season at Chelsea.
Chelsea have struggled this season under Mauricio Pochettino and due to the vast turnover in players during the summer transfer window, Chelsea had insufficient time to build any form of chemistry, yet the teenager still managed to shine. Whereas Saka has been playing for a prolonged time with his current teammates and guided by Arteta and the same coaching staff but was still outperformed by his counterpart.
Another example is Martinelli. The Brazilian is also 22 years old and has spent more time than usual on the bench this season due to injuries and lack of form. Despite his injury issues, Martinelli made 44 appearances this season across all competitions and only managed to score 8 goals and assist 5. Last season, the Brazilian winger made 46 appearances and scored 15 goals and assisted 6 times in all competitions.
As a young player in the EPL, Martinelli made a name for himself last season and the fans witnessed his silky footwork as he confidently took defenders on in 1-v-1 situations. However, this season we only saw glimpses of it as he looked like a shell of his former self, receiving the ball at the wing but more often than not choosing to go backwards or sideways rather than attacking his opponent.
Manchester United’s winger Alejandro Garnacho is 19 years old and arguably produced a better individual season than Martinelli. Garnacho has scored 9 goals and assisted 5 times in 49 appearances across all competitions this season. Let’s not forget this is a Manchester United team that struggled massively this season and finished 8th place in the league, suffering some embarrassing defeats in the process.
Martin Ødegaard has been phenomenal this season for the Gunners and with his stunning performances, you would think he has massively improved from last season. The Norweigeian scored 11 goals and made 11 assists this season in 48 matches across all competitions. That’s 22 goal contributions in total. Last season, Ødegaard scored 15 goals and made 7 assists in 45 matches across all competitions — 22 goal contributions in fewer games played.
Meanwhile in Germany, Xabi Alonso is squeezing every drop of talent out of his players. 21-year old attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz has scored 18 goals and contributed 20 assists in 47 games across all competitions. Likewise, Manchester City’s Phil Foden also has 38 goal contributions (27 goals, 11 assists) in 52 appearances.
I genuinely believe Ødegaard, Saka and Martinelli have the potential to be as good if not better than their rivals. However, these young Arsenal players need an experienced manager who is able to get them performing at their optimum level on a weekly basis.
How much time does Arteta need to build his squad?
I’ve been a football fan long enough to know that whenever a new manager comes in, it’s always an uphill battle to erase their predecessor’s ideals and place their own stamp on the club. When Arteta joined the club, there were major changes that needed to be made at various levels within the club and every rational fan knew that Arsenal would need a brand new set of players and a few years to win silverware. Despite this, I believe Arteta has made all the necessary changes within the club and squad to win trophies but he has failed to deliver. How much longer does the Spaniard need to build his squad and establish his stamp at the club?
In nine years, Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool spent £346 million in transfers and won the EPL, FA Cup, EFL Cup (2), UCL, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. In his first four seasons, Liverpool were UEL and EFL Cup runners up, UCL runners up and winners, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup winners. In his fourth season, Liverpool were also runners up in the EPL finishing just 1 point behind Manchester City.
José Mourinho spent £363 million in transfers during his two and a half year stint at Manchester United. There’s no denying this was a large sum but I believe it was justified because United won the EFL Cup and UEL in his first season in charge. The following season, Mourinho managed to finish runners up in the EPL and FA Cup. In Mourinho’s first season, the squad were littered with average players like Eric Bailly, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Chris Smalling and an ageing Wayne Rooney. The Portuguese won major trophies with this inferior squad whereas Arteta’s squad is full of top class players and he struggles to reach a competition final.
Conclusion
Arsenal fans knew that it would require time for Mikel Arteta to implement his vision at the club because he is still a young and inexperienced manager. When he was an assistant coach at Manchester City, he was learning under the guidance of Pep Guardiola who is one of the sport’s best managers ever. You can only learn so much without actually implementing it on your own team and it is obvious the Spaniard loves Arsenal with a passion.
Nevertheless, I personally think as a young and inexperienced manager, Arteta should have began his managerial career at a smaller club where the standards are not as high. Since joining Arsenal, he has been forced to learn on the job under intense internal and external pressure. I have no doubt that he has improved Arsenal substantially and his experience so far is moulding him into a great manager. He will definitely win major trophies in his managerial career but I fear that our current squad full of talented players might not reach their full potential as we know players’ prime typically lasts 4/5 seasons at best, with exceptions of course.
Therefore I believe Arteta is not currently the right manager to get the job done at Arsenal. Imagine what the likes of Mourinho, Guordiola, Klopp, Tuchel, Emery and other experienced managers would achieve with this current Arsenal squad. Imagine what these managers would have already achieved if they were in charge of Arsenal since 2019 and were supported by the owners.
