New Leicester City boss Enzo Maresca has taken time to give credit to Arsenal for showing faith in Mikel Arteta.
Like Mikel Arteta, Enzo Maresca is a former assistant of Pep Guardiola’s at Manchester City. He was given the top job at Leicester City this summer, and is seeking to emulate Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal success.
Maresca has spoken about the faith the Gunners have shown in Arteta since his appointment at the Emirates Stadium in 2019. The Spanish coach led the north London club to 8th in the Premier League that season, and could do no better in the following campaign. Things have improved since then, though, and Arsenal were runners up in the Premier League last time out, and still look to be on the up.
Arteta was given time to rebuild the Arsenal squad in his image, and to instil his ideas and philosophy at the club. Mareca hopes to be given time to have a similar impact at the King Power Stadium.
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As quoted by Leicestershire Live, the Italian coach said, “it’s my dream today. If you asked me for my professional dream it’s to stay in one club and build something important for many years…you can see this and the first club that I think of is Arsenal. They struggled at the beginning with Mikel but look at them now. It’s fantastic. But not all clubs give you this chance.”
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Arsenal’s faith being repaid
Arsenal absolutely do deserve credit for sticking by Arteta. At times, the manager has been under great pressure, fans’ faith has wavered, and the media have called for his job to be on the line. Yet the club’s hierarchy don’t seem to have wavered in their backing of the Spaniard at any stage, and they are now seemingly on the cusp of reaping their rewards for that.
Arsenal are well-placed to launch another title challenge this season, and that platform has been built over the past four years with Arteta at the helm.
Arsenal have a tradition of keeping faith in managers. Arsene Wenger’s 22-year stint in charge is the most obvious example of this, and the fact he just had a statue of himself unveiled outside the stadium proves that such an approach can pay off handsomely.