Mikel Arteta is set to lose a key member of his backroom staff, with reports claiming assistant coach Carlos Cuesta is on the verge of being appointed head coach of Serie A side Parma.
The news will come as a blow to the Gunners, given he only recently signed a contract extension. Cuesta is a popular and well-regarded figure at London Colney, but at the same time, there’s no doubt everyone at the club will wish him well as he embarks on his first managerial role.
When the Spaniard was linked with the top job at Norwich last year, Arteta welcomed the growing interest in his coaching team.
“Yeah, that’s great what has happened, not only with the coaching staff but also other certain staff,” he said.
“The fact that other clubs are trying to come and get them, which is always a really good sign that they’re doing a really good job, and we have the right people here.”
He added: “Everybody need to feel there is a path, there is a development plan for everyone.
“People don’t want to do the same thing for three, four, five years. It is a way to incentivise and inspire other people and then to explore because you don’t really know the limit of a person unless you expose him to certain things.
“I think curiosity is a really important quality that we have within our young staff and that drives the rest.”
In taking charge of Parma, Cuesta is set to become one of the youngest head coaches in Serie A history.
He joined Arsenal in 2020 after spells with Juventus and Atletico Madrid, and has been a trusted figure in Arteta’s inner circle ever since. The pair first crossed paths during Arteta’s time as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City.
Widely considered third-in-command behind Albert Stuivenberg, Cuesta’s stock has been steadily rising, helped in part by his cameo in the Amazon‘All or Nothing’ documentary, where his communication skills in one-on-one situations really came to the fore.
It helps that he’s a polyglot, reportedly fluent in English, Portuguese, French, Italian and a couple of flavours of Spanish – a useful trait in Arsenal’s multicultural squad.
It’ll be interesting to see whether Cuesta is directly replaced or whether Arteta opts to reshuffle his existing setup.
A decent chunk of the first-team squad is expected to head to Spain in the coming week to begin a pre-pre-season training camp, perhaps we’ll find out more then.