Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta discusses his contract extension and facing rivals Tottenham Hotspurs in the North London Derby, it's a big week for Arsenal
13/09/2024
Sobha Realty Training Ground
13/09/2024
Sobha Realty Training Ground
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00:00Thank you. Congratulations on your new contract.
00:03Thank you. We've heard you speaking to the club about how special it is,
00:09but for a wider audience, how are you feeling now that that's settled on the announcement?
00:13Well, I'm really happy, really excited. I think it shows the alignment between the club and
00:22myself and the coaching staff that we're on this journey together, that we enjoy working together,
00:26that we have much higher ambitions and we want to fulfil them. So,
00:31that's the way that I look at it. And as I said, really, really pleased and grateful as well.
00:37I think it was this week, 13 years ago, you made the debut as a player.
00:44Still look the same though.
00:47You made it very well. But it's been a lucky 13 because I guess you wouldn't want to be
00:51anyone else at the moment.
00:53No, I couldn't think of a better place to be to develop my career as a player,
00:57to experience such an amazing football club, the people that I met, the experiences that I had.
01:01And now as a manager, that has been something far beyond and better than
01:08what I ever dreamed about, probably.
01:10We talked about lucky 13 there in terms of you've got a new deal, but unlucky 13,
01:15I guess, in terms of the news this week regarding Martin. What can you tell us about this?
01:20We need some more tests, so let's see what happens in the next
01:23day or so, this afternoon probably, and see what happens, what is the extent of the injury and
01:30how quickly we can get him back. He's super positive about everything. We know Martin,
01:34he wants to be there every single day, but we have to wait and see.
01:38I know there's probably swelling, so it's impossible for you to give proper prognosis,
01:43but having seen him, I'm sure you have seen him, is he hopeful that he might not be as bad as
01:48you first thought?
01:48I'll leave that to the doctor, but his will, there's no question about that. He wants to
01:53be present in every game, and obviously a big game like this one, but we need to make sure
01:59that we know first of all how good he can be or not.
02:03But just to clarify, I know we can't be too active because of the swelling,
02:06but you're not ruling him out at this stage?
02:09Players with 48 hours are always available, but let's see what happens.
02:13Obviously other injuries are a concern as well. How are you coming on?
02:17Better. It's a slow process because it's a bone and it takes a while to heal. He's progressing
02:24well. He's already doing some stuff. He's working extremely hard. We're using this time as well to
02:29make sure that he understands a lot of things that he has a lot of questions about, and when
02:35he's back he's ready to go and impact the team.
02:37Do you feel there's an international break potentially?
02:41We don't know. Honestly, it's very difficult to understand the healing of the bone. I think
02:45the moment he has a lot of symptoms, you can speed it up very quickly because he hasn't
02:50lost anything else, but we have to wait and see.
02:52Is there any news that Gabriel Jesus is out there with the rest of the players?
02:56Gabriel was out. He's got another session tomorrow. If everything
03:00goes well, he will be ready to be selected in the squad, which is great news for us.
03:06I think I've not mentioned Fabioli yet. Are you new on the end?
03:11Yeah, it's another one that we have to wait another day or so, yeah.
03:15All right. What about Raheem? Obviously, he's had a chance to train with you a little long.
03:21Would it be too early to give him a start?
03:25He looks great. First of all, because he's got a big smile on his face, a lot of energy.
03:32He's at it and he wants to prove a point. When someone's got that in his belly,
03:38you sense it straight away and obviously, you don't need to discover anything about
03:42his quality and what he can bring to the team.
03:44That's a yes then. Just a final thought, for the first time ever, Arsenal won't be wearing
03:50their red and white in the North London derby. I know it's nothing to do with the club,
03:56nothing to do with Spurs, but do you think that matters?
03:59Well, it's not ideal. We wanted to play with our home kit and our colours, but it's not
04:04our decision and we will adapt. We did it against Villa, we won. So hopefully,
04:08you're going to bring very good luck as well.
04:13When you say he wants to prove a point, what's he been like in these last two weeks?
04:23Well, what I see is hunger. He's a player that wants to play every minute of every game when
04:28the case is not happy. He loves football, he likes doing it every single day and I see that.
04:36His commitment, the level of energy that he's bringing to the team and the quality
04:41is a big boost. You can feel it in the players as well. When he's walking through the door,
04:47we are better with him and he's going to make us better.
04:50He had a great run of goalscoring at Man City when you were there. Every season,
04:55it seemed to go up. Can you both unlock that again and how you see him playing your team?
05:04And he has this ability and obviously the credit to that is his and the players that
05:08he's got around him. You need that when you're one of the front players, certainly. He has that
05:13intuition, that will and the ability to do that and I'm sure it's going to impact the team.
05:19Just going back to your contract, when you first joined Arsenal,
05:23it was a very different club to the one now. How has it evolved in the way you wanted it to
05:29and what's next for Arsenal? You need to make the next step to win a major trophy.
05:33Well, in the way that I think we all wanted because we wanted a very different club
05:38and we are in the right direction. We have made some huge steps and we have a lot still to make.
05:45It just sends a hunger from ownership to the board, to all the players,
05:49the staff here and this is the aim and the objective.
05:53And is there any club or country you would have left Arsenal for when you were so settled?
05:57No. This is the emotional attachment that I have, that my family has, my kids have,
06:04the experience that I have and the involvement with the people is too strong.
06:09It does look like, going into this weekend, regardless of what happens with Arsenal,
06:14you are going to be relatively short on numbers in the field and it's obviously a pretty massive
06:19game coming up. It does seem that Ethan's got more of an important role in the squad.
06:23I was wondering, would you have any issues throwing him into a big game?
06:26Because you've spoken in the past about the over-exposing young players and putting them in
06:30at the right time.
06:31Yeah, well we have to adapt to that. Through the season we're going to have this kind of
06:34situation. It happened very early, since the second game, because when you look at the
06:38bench that we had against Brighton, it's very different to the one that probably we all expected.
06:44It's the situation that we have. We have to face it, use opportunities. The young kids have given
06:49us a lot of hope and a lot of right reasons as well to count on them. And if we need to,
06:54we will do it, for sure.
06:58Hi.
07:08What do you expect to see from the team?
07:10Probably afterwards, especially when you win at home and you celebrate with your supporters
07:15and you know how it means. There is something special. We have so many huge Arsenal supporters
07:21since the day that they were born and looking at that stuff and we have some good examples
07:27around the first team as well, coming after the game and the emotion and what it means for them.
07:32It's a privilege to have the power to contribute to someone,
07:37making someone really happy and especially different.
07:50I admire him. I admire him and respect him. I think he's been an inspirational
07:54coach as well in my career because he's done things in his own way in various
07:59contexts, in various countries. He has a very unique way of thinking about the game and his
08:05philosophy and I love it. He stands by it and I think as well he represents himself in the club
08:12in a really good way.
08:15It's been nearly five years since you've been working with Man City. How much do you think
08:18you've changed as a player since this time and how do you think Strong's desire and hunger
08:23to be successful now with Arsenal?
08:26Yeah, a lot. Obviously in his personal life a lot of things have changed since
08:30the moment that we were together. The player, I was really surprised. The first call that I
08:37had with him, my newest striker, after 10 seconds we have to bring him because he really wanted it.
08:42That was my only question mark, you know, what is he at, what stages is he at
08:46in his career after 10 seconds. I knew already before the next questions we need him here.
08:55Hi Mikel, hope you're well. Going back to your new contract,
08:58can you look at what Arsene Wenger built here at Arsenal during his time in the club?
09:03When you look at the other great managers, managing the Premier League, the likes of
09:07Saras Vergesson, Pep, Mourinho, do you feel like you can build a legacy here like the
09:13likes of Arsene Wenger and some of the other managers who have built their respective clubs?
09:19Hopefully yes, you know, but you're talking about the best in the history of football
09:24certainly in this country. My aim and motivation, my energy is to be
09:31my best version of myself, the best coach in the world ever for Arsenal and this is it. You know,
09:37what the club needs, what those players need, what we need as a team to keep developing and
09:43achieve what we want and that's the only objective. All those Arsenal fans that are listening to this
09:48are excited about your new contract. What's your message to them about what the next
09:53few years could offer them?
09:55Thank you, that's what I would say. Thank you for the gratitude, for the time we have spent,
10:02for the trust, for the confidence that they've showed and hopefully that can continue and we
10:10are here to make people happy and enjoy their passion which is to love and follow a football
10:16club and we are very responsible to try to achieve that for them.
10:20And lastly, on Kai Havertz, he ended last season in brilliant form, he started this year really
10:25well. How pleased have you been by the way he's adapted to that role up front and the way he's
10:30playing?
10:31Yeah, he's been great. Obviously it was a journey to that point that we navigated together but
10:38nobody doubted about his quality and he can bring and especially I think the success comes because
10:44of his character and his personality and how he approaches every game, every situation,
10:50facing it and going for it. So, it's a joy to have him.
10:54We've got a couple more in the live section, we'll go to Jordan from EFSA.
10:59With the injury you've got just now, obviously you let Eddie, Emil,
11:02Rhys go out alone on a lead at the top of the summer. Are you still happy with the
11:08size of his board that you've got and the depth that you've gone with this season?
11:11Yes, it can be bigger, yes, but as well we have certain limitations that we know about.
11:17We have to do certain things, certain transactions and as well because certain players, they have
11:22our time with us and they needed a new challenge in their career. We have signed a few players,
11:28it's been a bit different to the previous years but I'm really happy with the quality and the
11:33squad. But there are certain things that we cannot control and what happened in the last two weeks
11:38is extremely unlucky. We have to face it but hopefully during the season it will be very
11:43different. It's a really tough period coming up early in the season,
11:46buying the next eight games against the top eight from last season.
11:51I guess how do you approach that, where a lot of people are saying this is already
11:54make or break for us and with the injuries, the title could be out of their hands already.
11:59How do you try and cope with that?
12:03Day by day, guys. If we look where we're going to be at the end of May and the amount of games
12:08that we have to play and the level and the challenges ahead, we cannot think like this.
12:14We're going to run out of oxygen. I want to have the energy and enthusiasm for the next day,
12:18the next game and prepare that in the best possible way. That's what we're going to do
12:22and we're going to go to Spurs with an unbelievable energy and believe that we're going to go there to
12:27be ourselves and try to win the game.
12:49I always have the faith and I know Angel a little bit that his team play to try to win the game.
12:55They have some big, huge chances that any other day would be
12:59very different and no question, no doubt about that at all.
13:07I don't know which fans and how many of those. I don't know. Everybody has his own
13:12thoughts and I can speak for myself and I never had any doubt about that.