Nobody thought Mikel Arteta would ever become a footballer. Born in March 1982 in San Sebastian,
as a baby he was diagnosed with a serious heart condition which required surgery, and
doctors would tell his parents that their son would never play any sport.
But he would come to love football and, at age five, those doctors agreed to merely monitor
his condition.
Play he did. Most often on the beaches near his home in Calle Matia, with a local boy
who would grow up to win everything the sport had to offer. Xabi Alonso was five months
older than Arteta, but the two became inseparable, honing their touch and technique on the beach.
At nine, they would even play alongside one another for Antiguoko, a feeder club for Real
Sociedad. But at 15, Arteta had the chance to join the team he’d supported as a boy.
Moving to Barcelona may have seemed too good to be true for Arteta, but it was no surprise
to those who had watched him develop.
“He was one of the smallest players”, remembers Antiguoko teammate Alvaro Parra,
“but no doubt the smartest.”
Barcelona brought him first contact with Pep Guardiola, his idol as a player and – many
decades later – his coaching mentor. Arteta would make his debut appearance for Barca’s
B team as a substitute for Guardiola, but first-team chances were limited for teenagers
and, in 2001, with Phillip Cocu, Xavi and Fabio Rochemback blocking out the light, he
joined Paris Saint-Germain on loan.
At the time, PSG were under the guidance of Luis Fernandez, a European Championship winner
with France in 1984 and one of the finer defensive midfielders of his generation. The club was
very different to the one standing in its place today, but it was still one of Europe’s
most cosmopolitan environments.
Fernandez was managing a group which included Mauricio Pochettino and Gabriel Heinze, the
swaggering flair of Jay Jay Okocha and Ronaldinho, and the combustible talent of Nicolas Anelka.
It was an intimidating dressing-room, particularly for a 19 year-old, but he survived and grew.
Pochettino took Arteta under his wing, and the two retain a friendship which survives
to this day.
Those early years as a player were semi-nomadic, though. Arteta’s loan in Paris would become
a permanent move to Rangers, he would then swap Glasgow for a return to San Sebastian
before leaving for England and Everton, first on loan and then for good. So, before Arsenal
and the Emirates there were changes in style and culture to navigate, with languages to
learn and communication skills to develop.
It was a time of near constant change, but the anecdotes are familiar and consistent,
and are indicative of the kind of personality that today, nearly twenty years later, is
exerting itself at Arsenal.
At Ibrox, Ronald De Boer was struck by the presence of a young player who should have
been well outside his comfort zone.
“I think he was just coming up for 20 at that time, but he played with the maturity
and tactical discipline of a 30-year-old.” De Boer recalled. “You can never be certain,
but I did get a feeling – even back then when he was so young – that he had a desire
to get into coaching.”
From one hothouse footballing city to another, via San Sebastian, Arteta would make his name
in Liverpool with Everton and – again – show many of the characteristics present today.
Alan Stubbs, the former centre-half, remembers Arteta as “strong-minded” and “willing
to speak up if he felt something needed to be said”. Phil Neville, who spent time in
the presence of some of the strongest characters English football has ever known, also observed
a rare gravitas in his teammate.
“People listen to him and respect him – he has that aura”
Through Arteta’s own recollections, he was an unusually driven player too. In 2009, while
in recovery from a cruciate ligament injury, his wife Lorena was pregnant with their first
child. Labour was no reason to miss rehab, though.
Three or four hours after (my wife) gave birth” he told Arsenal’s official website in 2014
“I pulled up a treatment table next to her in hospital and had my physio. She wanted
to kill me.
But he would play again, returning with some of the best football of his career.
He arrived at Arsenal in 2011, as part of Arsene Wenger’s response to a dreadful 8-2
defeat to Manchester United. Wenger would eventually make him his captain and, like
others beforehand, placed great stock in his character and the example it set.
“Mikel has a huge influence even when he is not playing”, Wenger commented at the
time “He is super conscientious, and every morning two hours before training he prepares
and that is absolutely right. Just through his behaviour, his focus (is) on getting everything
right in the team.”
Like many of his peers Arteta laid the groundwork for his coaching career while he was still
playing. As part of his qualifications, he coached Arsenal’s u13s at Hale End during
a lengthy injury layoff in 2015 and, later in the year, as for his A License, he would
coach Wales’ U16s through the Victory Shield tournament.
By that time, some semblance of philosophy had started to crystalise too; He already
seemed to know what kind of head-coach he would be.
“I will have everyone 120 per cent committed, that’s the first thing,’ he said in a
2014 interview. “If not, you don’t play for me.”
It was said light-heartedly and with a smile, but – as Matteo Guendouzi might attest – he
meant every word. And he also knew how his teams would play.
I want the football to be expressive, entertaining. I cannot have a concept of football where
everything is based on the opposition. We have to dictate the game, we have to be the
ones taking the initiative, and we have to entertain the people coming to watch us.
The people aren’t there yet and they might not be for a while. The substance is appearing
though, and Arsenal have already begun to twine around their head-coach.