Forget pickpockets, Mikel Arteta did another bizarre thing to motivate Arsenal squad at a team dinner

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Mikel Arteta has been known to conduct some bizarre exercises to teach his Arsenal squad about discipline and hard work in the past.

The Spaniard has developed a reputation for using unusual methods for preparing his team for certain occasions.

Famously playing ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ on loud speakers to the Gunners players before a trip to Anfield, Arteta also hired pickpockets to steal from his ensemble, teaching them a ‘valuable’ lesson about being alert at all times.

An eccentric character who buys into this soft-factor form of man-management, the Arsenal boss’s latest dinner table antics will no doubt have fans laughing.

• READ MORE: Michael Owen thinks Arsenal had ‘one of the best finishers in the Premier League’ but Mikel Arteta didn’t use him properly

Mikel Arteta’s lemon squeezing story with Arsenal squad

From holding up a light bulb to displaying Ivan Toney’s tweets to his team in the dressing room, Arteta’s maverick way of motivating his players has certainly garnered a lot of debate in recent years.

The Amazon Prime documentary on the behind-the-scenes happenings at London Colney was certainly very revealing, and there’s another outlandish story to add to the repertoire that has emerged this week.

Speaking on French Radio Station RMC, journalist Julien Laurens told the story of Arteta presenting his players with half a lemon at the dinner table, the night before a match.

“One day, on the eve of a match, Mikel Arteta gathered all his players around a table,” Laurens said.

“In front of each of them was half a lemon on a plate. He asked each player to squeeze their lemon as hard as they could.

“Then, Arteta told them to move one seat to the right. Now, with the lemon of their teammate in hand, Arteta asked them to squeeze again, even harder then before, then asked them to move one seat again and again.

“The message behind it: Even when you think you’ve given everything, there’s always a little more left to give.

“There’s always that extra drop of effort, of energy, of commitment you can find within yourself and your teammates. If you truly push your limits.”

Mikel Arteta’s bizarre methods are justified

While from the outside, these motivational exercises might seem somewhat cringy and nonsensical, professional athletes tend to respond well to them.

Sportspeople want to be told that the marginal details matter, often to justify the extreme hard work they have to put in to be at the top of their game.

Being told that ‘there’s always that extra drop of effort’ will resonate with footballers who have spent their entire lives training to be the very best at what they do.

It’ll likely make them want to fight for their manager and pour everything they have into making the team succeed.

Ultimately, Arteta has improved most of the players he’s worked with, and he’s overseen Arsenal’s rise from mid-table mediocrity to perennial title challengers, so the methods he’s used to achieve this have been successful.