Mikel Arteta says that ‘marvellous’ Arsenal teammate was actually smarter than Mesut Ozil

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Arsenal are preparing to take on Leeds in their first home Premier League clash of the season.

The Gunners head into the game with an extra spring in their step after Eberechi Eze agreed to join Arsenal from Crystal Palace.

Eze won’t be involved against Leeds as the club missed the deadline to register the England star for the game and are still fine-tuning some minor details.

However, Mikel Arteta can look forward to welcoming the intelligence and creativity of Eze very soon and will hope he can emulate a former teammate that the Gunners boss thinks was smarter than Mesut Ozil.

READ MORE: Martin Odegaard says ‘powerful’ summer signing has settled in really quickly at Arsenal

Mikel Arteta names Tomas Rosicky as the ‘smartest’ player he ever played with

It can be easy to forget that Arteta had an exceptional career as a player before becoming the manager of Arsenal.

The Spaniard played 150 games under Arsene Wenger and had the pleasure of playing with some top players during his time at the Emirates Stadium.

However, Arteta has just named the player who he believes was the ‘smartest’ teammate and Tomas Rosicky was given the nod.

Given that Arteta played with the likes of Ozil at Arsenal and Ronaldinho at PSG, it is a huge compliment for the former Czech Republic midfielder.

Wenger once described Rosicky as a ‘marvellous’ player and despite his career in North London being blighted by injuries, he was someone that lit up the game whenever he was on the pitch.

Arsenal fans will have fond memories of the likes of Rosicky, Jack Wilshere and Arteta forming a midfield trio full of flair and technical ability – a team befitting of their manager’s ideology of football.

Mikel Arteta claims Peter Lovenkrands was faster than Theo Walcott

During the same interview, Arteta dropped another surprise choice when he claimed that he had a teammate faster than Theo Walcott.

Arteta stated: “Peter Lovenkrands. I played with Peter at Rangers and he was rapid.”

Walcott was widely regarded as one of the quickest players in world football during his time at the Gunners, however, Arteta has named the Dane as topping the former England star.

In a controversial statement, Walcott claimed Eze should have signed for Spurs this summer. Perhaps that may have been in the back of Arteta’s mind when making his choices!