Mikel Arteta has officially been named as the next manager of Arsenal until June 2023.
The Spaniard succeeds Unai Emery into the position after finalising terms from Manchester City.
Arteta served under Pep Guardiola as an assistant coach for the past three-and-a-half-years. He earned high praise for his work with the City senior side. The 37-year-old spent five years playing at Arsenal prior his retirement and the start to his coaching career. He made 150 appearances for Arsenal and scored 16 goals.
Mikel said after putting pen to paper, “This is a huge honour. Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world. We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game and that’s been made very clear to me in my discussions with Stan and Josh Kroenke, and the senior people from the club.
“We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it. I’m realistic enough to know it won’t happen overnight but the current squad has plenty of talent and there is a great pipeline of young players coming through from the academy.”
Josh Kroenke, speaking on behalf of the Arsenal board and our owners Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, said, “We’re delighted to be bringing Mikel back to Arsenal. He knows our expectations and those of our fans around the world are high and we are confident he can play a lead role in taking the club back to the levels we all demand.
“I also want to thank Freddie Ljungberg for skilfully guiding us through the last three weeks. He stepped up at short notice and has helped us through this difficult period with great professionalism.”
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