by Here’s some free advice for Arsenal: get Mikel Arteta tied to a new contract as soon as possible.
Strike while the iron is hot. Liverpool are entering a period of uncertainty with Jurgen Klopp leaving at the end of the season, and there are persistent rumors that Pep Guardiola will soon feel his work is done at Manchester City. Who knows how Guardiola will play if City are heavily punished following the Premier League hearing over alleged spending breaches.
What a message it would send if Arteta committed to the Emirates for another four years, promising to build on the foundations he laid.
At the start of next season, Liverpool will be fighting to maintain stability and the questions on Guardiola will continue until he confirms his intentions beyond the final year of his deal in the summer of 2025. Who will replace better than Arsenal and Arteta in the post-Klopp and Guardiola Premier League era? Manchester United have only just begun their revolution, and we have seen how much work Chelsea still have to do during this campaign.
City and Liverpool may have a seamless transition after Klopp and Guardiola leave. They are more likely to fall back into the pack.
There is no escaping the importance of Sunday’s meeting between Liverpool and Arsenal for the 2024 title race.
But the future must always be considered as much as the future.
I’ve no doubt there will be a lot of fretting in North London if Arsenal don’t beat Liverpool this weekend, or if they can’t keep up with City as the champions find their usual groove in the final.
Whatever the outcome, my message to Arsenal supporters is don’t worry. The team still has a chance this season, and they will be in the hunt for the next one while keeping their squad and coaching staff intact. Patience is one of the hardest traits to master in football – especially when it felt like Arsenal were just one step away coming into this campaign – but it pays to see the bigger picture in the situation this. If Arsenal lose Arteta in 2025 – when his current deal expires – it would feel like they are wasting a huge opportunity that they are building towards, although naturally everyone wants the title sooner rather than later. later.
There is no substitute for continuity, and that is what Liverpool will be looking for in those they consider to replace Klopp. That seamless transition is difficult to accomplish, especially when backroom staff are accompanying the manager. When players are adopting a successful formula, they like to know their routines.
Arsenal’s advantage ahead of the summer is that they have a young squad that is still developing. Whenever we judge the team’s performance over the past five years, we must emphasize the unprecedented standards of the title winners. Coming up against City last season, and Liverpool and City this time, Arteta is up against two of the best coaches in Premier League history. He is not at his level yet, but everything he has done so far suggests that he is capable of leading a team to the biggest trophies, including the Premier League title.
The ridiculous standards at the top will inevitably drop once Klopp and Guardiola are gone, no matter how good their replacements are.
Arsenal have been trying to follow a similar path to Klopp’s Liverpool for the past few seasons.
There is some irony, as the teams prepare to meet on Sunday, we may soon find ourselves in a world where Liverpool are scrutinizing what Arsenal did when considering the credentials of Klopp’s successor.
Arteta’s work will be his first informative managerial post for Fenway Sports Group as they listen to the arguments for and against premiership Xabi Alonso.
Arteta was a gamble when he retired in 2019 and embarked on a challenging rebuild.
That was a topic of conversation from day one, and Arsenal’s head of football at the time, Raul Sanllehi, asked if it was right to ignore more experienced coaches.
“It depends how you define experience,” said Sanllehi.
“There is certainly risk but not from an experience point of view. You don’t know everything until you try it.”
Arsenal had done enough due diligence to realize that Arteta was the best manager in the game.
Whether they win the title under him or not, there will be no doubt that it was a great appointment.
Although Alonso is already head coach at Bayer Leverkusen, there are similar suggestions that it is ‘too early’ for him to be promoted to a club of Liverpool’s stature, or FSG risk continuing the trend of romanticising clubs. rather than a logical appointment.
Arteta showed the benefits of having a visionary, intelligent and thoughtful young coach with an emotional connection to the club. The comparison also feels particularly relevant in this case since Arteta and Alonso are childhood friends, born in the same town of San Sebastian, receiving the same football education in their early years, and benefiting from the wisdom of some of the most thoughts later.
Just as Arteta was mentored by Guardiola, Alonso played under three of the most successful coaches of all time – Guardiola, Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti.
No other flourishing manager in world football is educated by those three professors.
There are some players who you intuitively know will be leaders.
Xabi falls into that category and he felt like he was a coach when we were teammates. At his peak, he didn’t just play the game. He read it. The biggest compliment for Xabi is that if Liverpool don’t take him, you could imagine that he would be in talks with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
There are many big clubs who will soon be looking for the next big thing in management.
It would be strange if the Arsenal job was vacant soon, though. Arteta’s strong reaction to being linked with the Barcelona job – a huge compliment in normal circumstances – showed that he is a coach who recognizes that his team is not yet there.
Arsenal and Arteta have entered the tough yard to reach a point where they are ready to pounce if City and Liverpool fail.
That might happen on Sunday. It can happen when Klopp goes in a few months. Or it could happen if Guardiola leaves in 2025. If not, Arsenal should act now to ensure that they and Arteta are primed to respond if it finally happens in 2026.
