Within hours of his Spanish homeland winning the European Championship, where four of his players were involved in the final, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta was arriving at the Premier League club’s London Colney base for the first official day of their 2024-25 pre-season.
Arsenal may now be into the swing of their U.S. pre-season tour, having drawn 1-1 with fellow English top-flight side Bournemouth in a friendly in Los Angeles on Wednesday night (early Thursday UK time), but on that day when it all begins again, there is always a frisson — a streak of enthusiasm about what lies ahead.
Arteta was understandably in a good mood and went back to work expressing his excitement and determination — qualities he endeavours to bring all the time — to all returning players and staff.
He is totally involved in, and critical to, all decision-making around the first team. He’s the spiritual leader of the entire club. He is so deeply embedded in Arsenal life that it is hard to imagine them without him.
And yet, his contract expires at the end of the coming season. In less than a year, as things stand, he will be free to walk away from the north London side — but there is no panic, no anxiety, about that possibility. Frankly, until a new deal is announced, there should be at least minor neuroses.
It is, however, strangely zen. Everybody wants it to happen. Apparently, it just needs the right time to agree on all the details. Still, that presumably needs to be soon, to avoid it becoming an issue.
Arteta has already had three significant deals in his four and a half seasons since rejoining a club he had played for and captained, initially as head coach, in December 2019. He was rewarded with upgraded status within a few months, becoming manager in the summer of 2020 with a much broader responsibility. The club realised they’d actually got more than they expected from Arteta and were eager to recognise his potential with a bigger commitment.
The next contract was signed in 2022 as the ambition stepped up. Two years on, and here we are with the 42-year-old in an exceptionally strong position.
Arteta signing his most recent new contract in 2022 (Stuart MacFarlane/Arsenal FC via Getty Images)
Arteta seems content to be where he is, and highly motivated to stay there longer and compete harder. Members of the club’s hierarchy trust him implicitly to lead Arsenal in the best way possible. In the past few years, they have shown considerable backing by trying to provide him with all the tools he wants.
It is not a guarantee in elite football to have that kind of easy harmony at the top. The rapport between Arteta, sporting director Edu, owners Stan Kroenke and, notably, the more directly involved Josh Kroenke, Stan’s son — and by extension the rest of the executive team — is solid, amiable, supportive and well-connected.
It contrasts quite sharply with the decade that preceded Arteta’s appointment.
Throughout the latter part of the Arsene Wenger era, his contractual situation was an almost permanent subject for debate. Wenger’s eyes used to glaze over when it was contract-talk time. There was always this awkward atmosphere and a slight depression in the room when the subject came up in press conferences — and it did, with monotonous regularity, for the majority of the second half of his 22-year reign.
The dreaded question would unerringly start when there were around two years to go on his contract.
Whenever he signed an extension, there would be a period of grace before the issue slunk back into the room. “Morning, Arsene… any news on your contract?” If you looked carefully, you could see Wenger’s shoulders drop a touch, sense the hint of a grimace. Every single press conference, every single matchday, without fail, the query came just in case — a long shot — he actually did have any news he was willing to share. It was mildly excruciating.
Arteta has avoided the relentless tedium of contract talk.
There was so much else to dominate the discourse last season as Arsenal pushed on in the Premier League and Champions League that it barely came up. It is also a sign of the club’s internal stability that everyone expects a straightforward outcome. Wenger, in his much more challenging years, did not enjoy the same luxury. The owners were more distant, the relationship with an executive team led by Ivan Gazidis was more fractured, and the club as a whole was more unsettled.
Arsenal are run so much more smoothly these days. That has allowed them to build a team in their manager’s image.
When Arteta signed his most recent contract two years ago, he spoke of wanting “to take the team to the next level and to compete really with the top teams”. He had a clear plan for how he intended to do that: “We have to be playing in the Champions League. We have to evolve the team, improve our players, improve all departments, generate an even greater connection with our fans, improve the atmosphere at the Emirates, be able to recruit top, top talent and the best people for this club to drive this project to that level.”
All of those aims have been met.
Arteta has achieved his aim of returning Arsenal to the Champions League (Michaela Stache/AFP via Getty Images)
Arsenal watchers will be keen to see what he says about the next phase.
How the team, collectively, respond to the experience of last season is a significant challenge. It is not easy to give absolutely everything, miss out on all the prizes, and dust yourself down to strive to give even more than you even know you possess. It will be interesting to see how Arsenal tweak their squad before the transfer window shuts at the end of August, with a few ins and outs expected. Sprinkling something fresh onto the group could be useful in invigorating the dynamic.
Like a lot of summers, this is one where players will rejoin the club at different times following their time at international tournaments.
Arteta was with a handful of them in the Spanish resort of Marbella at Arsenal’s pre-pre-season camp. It was more relaxed — more of a cross between training and a holiday — and, really importantly, it also allowed some high-quality personal time between the coaching staff and that small group of players. They included Ben White, Jurrien Timber, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Jesus and Thomas Partey.
Back in London, the next group arrived the following Monday, and in the coming weeks all those who competed in Euro 2024 or Copa America, such as Bukayo Saka, Gabriel and Declan Rice, will return from their much-needed breaks.
Of all the business that needs to be done to give Arsenal the best chance of competing again in 2024-25, and hoping they can find that extra push, an Arteta signature this summer remains fundamental.
(Top photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
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