Premier League giants Arsenal have appointed former captain Mikel Arteta as their new substantial manager on a three-and-a-half-year deal.
Arteta stands to earn an annual salary close to £5m, around the same figure that Emery was paid. However, the Spaniard is unlikely to be in the dugout for Saturday’s clash with Everton and instead would watch from the stands at Goodison Park.
The 37-year-old Spaniard leaves his role as Manchester City assistant manager and replaces Freddie Ljungberg, who took over as interim head coach following Unai Emery’s sacking at the end of November.
While in charge, Ljungberg won just one of his four Premier League games at the helm, while the club are on a run of only one win from their last 12 fixtures.
When Arteta’s old side City beat Arsenal at the weekend, the former Everton midfielder was in the dugout alongside Pep Guardiola.
He now returns to the Emirates where he played 150 games between 2011 and 2016, winning two FA Cups and two Community Shields before retiring. The former captain joined Guardiola’s backroom staff in 2016 and will now embark on his first managerial post at his old club.
According to the Daily Mail, some backroom staff at City will follow Arteta to the Emirates. Among them is Borrell, while Domenec Torrent, a coach who has worked with Pep Guardiola for many years, is another tipped to follow Arteta.
Speaking with the Arsenal website after agreeing to be the Gunners’ new manager, Arteta said: “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 (owner and club director, respectively) 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.”
Reacting to the Spaniard appointment, Arsenal Head of football Raul Sanllehi said the club had interviewed other names before opting to pursue Arteta.
“We met several top-class candidates and Mikel stood out to every single one of us as the perfect person for us.
“Mikel understands Arsenal Football Club and what it means to our fans around the world. We look forward to him getting down to work and bringing the best out of our squad as we work to get our season back on track,” he said in a club statement.
