Arsenal has announced the appointment of former captain Mikel Arteta as the new head coach. The former Manchester City assistant manager has signed a three years contract with the Gunners.
Speaking to the official Arsenal site, Arteta promised to restore the clubs’ lost glory but admitted that it will take a while before achieving that.
“This is a huge honor. Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world. We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game and that’s been made very clear to me in my discussions with Stan and Josh Kroenke, and the senior people from the club,” he said upon his confirmation.
The Spanish midfielder spent five years at Arsenal and won two FA Cups.
“We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it. I’m realistic enough to know it won’t happen overnight but the current squad has plenty of talent and there is a great pipeline of young players coming through from the academy,” he added.
Arteta is the second managerial appointment at Arsenal since Arsene Wenger left the position in 2018. Unai Emery was fired after 18 months of succeeding the French manager who spent 22 years at the club.
Interestingly, Arteta’s first match in charge will be against his old club Everton at Goodison Park this Saturday. Arsenal is 10th in the English Premier League table after 17 matches.