Thierry Henry has now confessed that he believes Arsenal made a mistake prior to appointing Mikel Arteta.
Arsenal are currently flying high.
On Tuesday night, the Gunners sent a message to the rest of Europe as they dispatched PSG 2-0 in a Champions League clash at the Emirates Stadium.
On top of that, the North London club have started the Premier League campaign strongly. Ally McCoist has tipped Arsenal to win the title this season, with the Gunners having finished as runners up behind Manchester City in each of the last two campaigns.
Mikel Arteta deserves huge credit for making Arsenal genuine contenders for the biggest prizes in the game once again, as that was not the case when he took the reins at the Emirates Stadium in December 2019.
At that time, Arsenal had fallen out of the Champions League and were nowhere near Premier League title contention. Arteta has transformed Arsenal on and off the pitch, healing the rift between the club and the fans, and building a talented squad.
However, Thierry Henry believes that the club may have still reached this point had Arteta never been appointed in the first place.
Arsenal icon Thierry Henry makes bold Unai Emery claim
Arteta’s predecessor as Arsenal manager, putting aside Freddie Ljungberg who spent a brief interim period in the hot seat, was Unai Emery.
Emery arrived at Arsenal in May 2018, taking over from the long-serving Arsene Wenger. The Spaniard came with an impressive track record and enjoyed some initial success before the Gunners’ form took a nosedive and he was ultimately let go in late 2019.
Emery has since rebuilt his reputation at Aston Villa, who enjoyed a historic triumph over Bayern Munich in the Champions League last night.
Speaking after that match on CBS Sports Golazo, Henry insisted that Emery could have been a success at Arsenal, had he been given more time and had the decision to replace him with Arteta not been taken.
He said: “He’s a tactical genius. He always goes out there and makes sure his team has an advantage tactically.
“For me, this is no disrespect to Mikel Arteta for what he is doing, I think he’s doing extremely well at Arsenal, I just thought if we kept him a bit longer, he would have been a success at Arsenal and he did show it straight after he left the club. Massive respect for him.”
Were Arsenal right to back Mikel Arteta over Emery?
It is certainly fair to say that Arsenal showed more patience with Arteta than they ever did Emery. The former midfielder’s process in getting the club to where they are now has not been without its rough patches overall.
However, Arteta has now proven himself to be the right man for the job at this time. The alchemy of a successful union between a manager and a club comes down to more than just coaching skill. There was something missing between Arsenal and Emery that the latter has found at Villa Park.
Meanwhile, Arteta is repaying the faith that the North London club showed in him.
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