‘Arsenal players were sceptical of Arteta appointment’ – Willock won over by promising coach : Gunners

As has been said in previous threads, most Arsenal fans had no doubt that Arteta could be a brilliant manager based on his time as a player. The man just oozed leadership and intelligence whenever he was on the pitch or doing a presser as captain.

You don’t get City, Arsenal and some irrelevant team all scrambling to get you as assistant manager as soon as you hang up your boots without there being something there.

However, we knew that would be “one day”. Arsenal taking the risk of testing that potential as his very first job was something a lot of people, rightfully so, had a lot of trepidation over. Hell, I still do in some aspects.

This wasn’t the same as Pep or Zidane taking over Barca/Real, there were multiple circumstances that were quite different at Arsenal compared to those two clubs when Arteta came in.