Former Premier League manager Steve Bruce admitted even he was shocked by one thing Mikel Arteta did early into his career at Arsenal.
So much has changed since Arteta’s first game in charge at Arsenal.
Things have, by no means, been easy for the Arsenal manager, but year after year, the Gunners look to be getting closer to Premier League glory.
Many think it’s Arsenal’s year to win big, making it easy to forget that the project wouldn’t be where it is had Arteta not made several bold calls.
Mikel Arteta shocked Steve Bruce when he axed some big names at Arsenal
The Arsenal squad looks balanced and brimmed with quality, with no big names stealing the show or, most importantly, unsettling the dressing room.
It’s not an issue now, but it certainly was when Arteta first took charge, something the Spaniard promptly addressed.
Interestingly, it’s a topic that Steve Bruce has been speaking about on talkSPORT, using Arteta’s early struggles with big personalities to compare him to Ruben Amorim.
“It reminds me a little bit of Arsenal, what Arteta did a few years ago,” Bruce said.
“Where he’s cleared out the dressing room where people are looking from afar thinking, “Wow, that’s a big call.”
Bruce alluded to the fact that from the outside, many footballing figures were shocked by Arteta’s decision to axe Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mesut Ozil.
While the coach didn’t explicitly mention the two players, what happened at either end of 2021 is what Bruce was referencing.
Arsenal knew several players were holding back the project
2021 was a decisive year for Arteta’s project, as in January, Ozil left after being ostracised in 2020 and in December, Aubameyang was handed a disciplinary warning, leading him to leave the club soon after.
Though Arteta wishes things were different with Ozil, it was paramount that the pair were cut off, as the boss explained to Jamie Carragher in a 2022 interview with Sky Sports.
“It was part of the strategy of what we’re trying to build,” Arteta said, specifically about Aubameyang’s situation.
“At the end of the day, when you are in that process and you want to go faster, there are people holding that boat [back] and putting weight on it.
“I’m sorry, but we want to go even faster, and there’s no time, whether it’s a player or a staff member, for someone damaging the club, and we made that decision.”
Arteta was clear with his version of events, and while the decision was questioned at the time, there are no complaints about how things have turned out.
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