Coaching Alongside Pep Guardiola Shaped My Coaching Career – Arteta

Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta has come out to share how close he came to playing for England. He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and fans have been reacting.

According to him, he was very close to playing for England when Fabio Capello was manager, but then he got injured around that time, and the opportunity went away.

Arteta added that he was grateful for the opportunity to coach alongside Pep at City because it shaped his career.

His words, “Yeah, I was pretty close when [Fabio] Capello was the manager (2008-2012). I was very close but then I got injured and at the same time I was going to go to Spain, so I didn’t do it, but I would’ve been very proud to be part of that.”

On Alonso, “[Xabi Alonso] the manager? I don’t know. But the player, he was there, for sure. We lived five minutes away from each other, we played against each other, we played in the same team in Antiguoko. His father was a coach. He’s been educated by some of the top managers in the world, so I’m not surprised [by his success at Bayer Leverkusen].”

On Pep, “Pep was the more senior one in that position and I met him when I was 15. At 26-27 years old I did my ACL and I started to connect with Pep from that moment. I’m so grateful that I did.

I think [the desire to be a manager] grew through my career. And when I moved from coaches, cultures, different countries, different leagues, I started to have different experiences, I started to understand the game. Then I did my ACL and I didn’t know when I was going to get back. I started to think: ‘Okay, what do I want to do if this doesn’t go the right way?’ And then I started to do my coaching badges, and then I loved it more there than probably playing on grass. The opportunity came to start coaching with Pep [at Manchester City] and I’m so grateful that I did.”

WOW.

Arsenal Football Club is an English professional football club based in Holloway, North London. Arsenal compete in the Premier League, the top flight of English football.

The club has won 13 league titles (including one unbeaten title), a record 14 FA Cups, two League Cups, 17 FA Community Shields, the Football League Centenary Trophy, one European Cup Winners’ Cup and one Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. In terms of trophies won, it is the third-most successful club in English football.

After conducting an overhaul in the club’s operating model to coincide with Wenger’s departure, Spaniard Unai Emery was named as the club’s new head coach on 23 May 2018. He became the club’s first ever ‘head coach’ and second manager from outside the United Kingdom.

In Emery’s first season, Arsenal finished fifth in the Premier League and as runner-up in the Europa League. On 29 November 2019, Emery was dismissed as manager and former player and assistant first team coach Freddie Ljungberg was appointed as interim head coach. On 20 December 2019, Arsenal appointed former club captain Mikel Arteta as the new head coach. Arsenal finished the league season in eighth, their lowest finish since 1994–95, but beat Chelsea 2–1 to earn a record-extending 14th FA Cup win. After the season, Arteta’s title was changed from head coach to manager.