Confirmed! Mikel Arteta becomes Arsenal coach as new era begins …the players gunners need now

Arsenal have appointed their former captain Mikel Arteta as head coach on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

The 37-year-old won the FA Cup twice in a five-year career with the Gunners and succeeds fellow Spaniard Unai Emery, who was sacked in November.

Arteta had been working as a coach under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, joining the club in 2016 after retiring as a player.

“We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game,” Arteta said.

“That’s been made very clear to me in my discussions with [owners] Stan and Josh Kroenke and the senior people from the club.”

He will take over as Gunners boss on Sunday, leaving Freddie Ljungberg in interim charge for the trip to Everton – another of Arteta’s former clubs – on Saturday (12:30 GMT kick-off).

Arsenal are 10th in the Premier League with 22 points.

“We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it,” added Arteta.

“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.”

Arteta’s coaching team has not yet been announced.

Ljungberg has won once in five matches since being appointed on a caretaker basis on 29 November, and the Swede called for some clarity on the situation after Sunday’s 3-0 home defeat by champions Manchester City.

The Gunners have now gone six games without a win at Emirates Stadium, their longest run without a home victory since 1995. Arsenal are seven points behind fourth-placed Chelsea, after five victories in 17 matches this season.

Former midfielder Arteta, who made 150 appearances for the Gunners between 2011 and 2016 and captained the side, was linked with replacing Arsene Wenger at the Emirates in 2018 before the club appointed Emery.

Before joining Arsenal, Arteta spent six years at Everton, making 209 appearances. The Toffees are without a permanent manager since Marco Silva was dismised on 6 December and also showed interest in the Spaniard.

Earlier in his career, Arteta spent two years at Scottish Premiership side Rangers before joining Real Sociedad in 2004.

Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta would need to sign 10 players and must be ruthless with Arsenal’s squad, according to ex-Gunner Kevin Campbell.

Arteta was made Arsenal manager on Friday and Campbell thinks he has a huge job on his hands.

The Spaniard spent the last three seasons working under Pep Guardiola at Manchester City and Campbell hopes he has adopted some of Guardiola’s more hard-headed traits.

Speaking exclusively to SunSport on behalf of GentingBet, Campbell highlighted a distinct lack of quality in the North Londoners’ squad and said: “Arsenal need ten players.

“I’m not saying Aubameyang out or Lacazette out but that squad needs ten players minimum.”

Beyond the attacking pair, Campbell believes only Bernd Leno, Hector Bellerin, Nicolas Pepe and Matteo Guendouzi represent anything remotely exciting for Arteta to work with.

And struggling to recognise his former club, he added: “It’s such a weak Arsenal team. It’s just not Arsenal.

“The club, the feeling and the way people are operating is dysfunctional and the fans are not seeing what they want to see on the pitch.

“The defence don’t know what the midfield are doing and the midfield don’t know what the attack are doing.

“There has to be a ruthless streak coming in with Arteta now and if he has got to cull players then so be it.

“I think the fans would respect that in a new manager if he went in and started shaking things up.

“And that goes for every player, not just the youngsters, the established players as well.”

Arteta will take charge of the Gunners after the game against his old club Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday lunch time.

But Campbell – who like Arteta played for both teams – admitted the former midfielder wouldn’t have been his personal choice to take charge at the Emirates.

He said: “He wasn’t my first choice. I wanted someone experienced.

“My first choice was Max Allegri. I wanted him before Unai Emery.

“But Arteta has been learning his trade under one of the great managers in Pep Guardiola and he might just surprise everyone.”

Everton also look set to appoint a new manager – with Carlo Ancelotti hot favourite to replace Marco Silva who was sacked earlier this month.



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