Mikel Arteta is now five years into his reign as the manager of Arsenal yet his life in the hot seat at Emirates Stadium is not unspoiled as the Gunners ‘cannot’ fulfil one wish.
The anniversary of Arteta replacing Unai Emery at the helm of the north London club passed on December 22. He took over in 2019, and the 42-year-old has since transformed Arsenal from simply being top-four hopefuls into consistent challengers for the Premier League title.
Top-flight glory has so far evaded Arteta in the last two seasons with back-to-back runner-up finishes to Manchester City. Still, the only title he has added to Arsenal’s trophy cabinet is the FA Cup in 2020. But Arteta also dreams about achieving something else in north London.
Mikel Arteta ‘would love’ Arsenal’s academy to replicate Barcelona’s La Masia
Promoting and developing the emerging stars in Arsenal’s academy is a close-held objective for Arteta. He has gifted a number of rising talents their breakthrough at the first-team level at Emirates Stadium, such as now-regular senior duo Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly.
But Arteta admits Arsenal cannot make the changes to their academy system he feels would make the ‘most impactful’ difference to bringing through even more future first-team gems. Regulations also stop Arsenal from fulfilling Arteta’s dream to replicate Barcelona’s La Masia.
READ MORE: Every Arsenal academy player to make their senior debuts under Mikel Arteta
“I would love to but the regulations here, unfortunately, are different,” Arteta said in his pre-match press conference ahead of visiting Brighton & Hove Albion on Friday. “And a lot of the things that, in my opinion, are the most impactful things, we cannot do them here.”
Arsenal manager Arteta was a product of La Masia himself as he joined Barcelona’s academy at the Under-19s level in 1997. The midfielder from San Sabastian stayed in the Blaugrana’s ranks until Arteta joined Paris Saint-Germain on loan in 2001 and signed for Rangers in 2002.
Mikel Arteta wants ‘many more’ players and coaches graduating from Arsenal’s academy
Arteta never featured at the senior level for Barcelona but was in La Masia at the same time as Thiago Motta and Pepe Reina plus briefly with Carles Puyol and Victor Valdes. But Arteta cannot transfer everything that he learned at Barcelona to improve Arsenal’s academy now.
Yet what Arteta can do and is keen to realise in north London is to have as many young stars graduate from the academy into Arsenal’s first-team squad. He is also keen to enhance their pathway up from the youth ranks into the senior Arsenal coaching staff to fill any vacancies.
Arteta added: “[I would like to see] many more coming through and especially that they feel that they have a chance at any moment.
“Anybody at the academy, that means players and staff, because the first thing we do with the staff is exactly the same – that everybody has the ambition, the purpose and intention to prepare and to show that [at] any moment, they can go and be part of our team.”
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