Mikel Arteta has committed his future to Arsenal by signing a new contract at the club.
The Spaniard was appointed as Gunners boss in December 2019, and his new deal is set to keep him at the Emirates Stadium until 2030. If he fulfils his contract, he will exceed a decade as a manager there.
That new deal surprises nobody now, but in his first few years as the Arsenal gaffer, not many people would’ve expected him to be in the job for this long.
That should be an example for owners and sporting directors, says Cesc Fabregas.
Mikel Arteta and Arsene Wenger
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Cesc Fabregas uses Mikel Arteta and Arsenal’s example to defend managers
Managers in the modern game rarely get the time they need to implement the ideas.
Football has reached a stage where everyone wants to see results in a few games. If things don’t go their way, sporting directors and owners are not afraid to make changes.
Luckily for Arsenal, the Kroenkes decided to stand firmly behind Mikel Arteta when he was going through a tough period early on in his career. Many people wanted him gone, but the owners ignored all the noise.
That has proved to be the right decision, as Arteta has transformed Arsenal and has turned them into one of the best clubs in the world again. The Gunners wouldn’t be where they are today without him.
Fabregas has now used this very example after Arteta signed his new contract earlier this week.
He said, as per Goal: “I watched Arsenal and Mikel Arteta just renewed his contract with the club. Now you can see the results of his work, but at the start he didn’t do well, he let people criticise and talk.
“We’ve got to have clear ideas. Normally, but admittedly not always, the results do arrive after a few months.
“In my view, a coach must put the players on the field with faith. I do see a matter of ego in there, including with directors. How can you fire a coach after just two games? The director of sport at times feels like he ought to be a coach.
“As far as I am concerned, I feel that a coach ought to have a lot of strength, not power, over the system he plays and what type of player is required.”
Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta blueprint is perfect but it doesn’t apply to everybody
Whenever you see a manager going through a tough spell, you see people pointing at Arteta to justify why they shouldn’t be sacked.
The reason why keeping faith in the manager worked for Arsenal is that Arteta is absolutely world-class at what he does, and there were always signs that he would get it right.
That isn’t always the case, though. We have seen clubs that try to copy the Gunners’ model with managers who are nowhere near good enough, and that plan almost always ends up backfiring.
That being said, Fabregas is right. Managers should be given a lot more time than many do these days, but thinking that alone will help them unearth the new Arteta is wrong.