5 Reasons Why Mikel Arteta Is Not The Right Man For Arsenal

Manchester City v Chelsea - Premier League
Mikel Arteta is reportedly poised to take over as Arsenal manager.

Arsenal have ended their 22 year long association with Arsene Wenger and are in the hunt for the right man to replace the Frenchman. Ever since Wenger announced that he will be stepping down at the end of the season, a number of managers have been linked with one of the most sought-after managerial jobs in world football at the moment, with the likes of Diego Simeone, Massimilliano Allegri and Thomas Tuchel all reportedly in the race to be Arsenal's next manager.

Over the past week or so, one man has seemingly moved into pole position for the job. That man is Mikel Arteta, the former captain of the club he is now reportedly set to take over. This has split opinions among the already divided Arsenal fan-base.

Also read: Arsenal: Grading The Squad For 2017/18

We look at five reasons why the Spaniard might not be the best replacement for the outgoing manager:


#5 Arteta's relative inexperience as manager

Manchester City v Brighton and Hove Albion - Premier League
Arteta has done well under the tutelage of Guardiola

Mikel Arteta has been one of the trusted stewards of Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola in their gallop to the Premier League trophy. The Spaniard is currently employed by the Manchester side as assistant manager and has played a major role in their double-winning season.

The former Everton midfielder is also highly rated by his peers as well as the manager and has been rightly credited with the success of the side.

However, having never been solely incharge of a team's fortunes, the Spaniard has still plenty to learn before he can be entrusted with managing a club of the stature of Arsenal Football Club. He has also, only been assistant manager for just two seasons and assumedly isn't completely in a position to take up the job which entails various responsibilities both on and off the pitch.

Also read: Top 5 goalscoring midfielders in Premier League history

#4 Arsenal need to bring in a proven manager

Juventus Press Conference
Allegri has been linked with the Arsenal job.

After 22 years under the same manager, Arsenal finally decided to part ways with Arsene Wenger because of his inability to win big titles. Wenger managed to last win the league in 2004 and hasn't been able to replicate even a fraction of that success in any of the 13 seasons since.

The Frenchman has also failed to win the holy grail of European football, the Champions League, despite coming terribly close in the final in 2006.

Therefore, when the rationale for letting go of Wenger is clearly due to his failure to land trophies how do we then reconcile that with the fact that a man who has never even managed a side, let alone win a title is now positioned to take over.

If titles are what Arsenal are after, they need to go for an already proven manager who has successfully steered his sides to titles, both in the drawn-out league season or in knock-out cup-competitions. And Mikel Arteta hasn't done either.

Also read: Big Sam and Rafa Benitez: Legacy Hunting with England's Elite?

#3 Arteta isn't a Gunner through and through

Manchester City v Arsenal - FA Community Shield
Mikel Arteta was Arsenal captain as a player.

Despite moving to the Emirates and then going on to captain the side most Arsenal fans will tell you that Mikel Arteta is far from the Arsenal legend that the likes of Patrick Vieira or Thierry Henry are. In fact, he is remembered more fondly down at Merseyside than in Islington.

If, for some unfathomable reason, Arsenal do decide to go for someone who has been involved with the history of the club and are not deterred by their inexperience, that should put both the Frenchmen above the Spaniard in the pecking order.

To say nothing of the fact that both have a lot more experience in various managerial roles, with Henry having played a similar role to Arteta's in the Belgian side for some time now and Vieira with over two seasons as manager of New York City FC.

Even as players, the two were part of the invincible side and have also tasted World Cup success with their national side. Sadly, Mikel Arteta has had a much more sombre career as a player.

Also read: 10 Greatest Tributes To Arsene Wenger

#2 Arsenal need to move away from uncertainty

Huddersfield Town v Arsenal - Premier League
Arsenal were far from convincing in the past couple of seasons.

After a decade of instability under the Frenchman, Arsenal cannot afford to go down a road that they have no idea where it leads to.

Mikel Arteta doesn't come with the guarantee of titles which the likes of Diego Simeone or Massimiliano Allegri or even Carlo Ancelotti do. They are far more experienced as managers and have also had glittering careers which are ornamented with multiple league and European successes.

Diego Simeone has been incharge of Atletico for a while now and has steered them to a League title amidst the dominance by the two giants in Spain and has only recently lead his side to their first European title under him after winning the Europa League.

Allegri meanwhile, has won the Italian league each season that he has been at Juventus and Ancelotti has done it multiple times over in various leagues across Europe including at Chelsea and Real Madrid and has a pretty impressive European record as well.

And it seems like if the Spaniard takes over and doesn't deliver immediately the murmurs of discontent won't take long to resurface and the atmosphere of uncertainty will grip the cub once again.

Also read: Arsenal's tryst with uncertainty

#1 Arsenal need to avoid getting sucked into the whirlwind of managerial change

Crystal Palace v Manchester City - Premier League
Would he last as Arsenal manager if were to take up the job?

The modern day mania of managerial turn-over is one of the most disconcerting trends. As horrible as it is to see players move to rival clubs, what's even more depressing is to see managers follow suit.

Take a look at the the big clubs, or event the smaller ones for that matter, managers lose their jobs and find new ones almost as easily as Lionel Messi lobs keepers. We can't say for sure but we think that having to watch Jose Mourinho move to Manchester United from Chelsea might've been a bitter pill to swallow for the Chelsea fans.

We need to find someone who will stay at the Emirates for the foreseeable future and not look for a stop-gap which Mikel Arteta is most likely to turn into should he indeed take over as manager.

Arsenal are a club of ideals and principles and must, at all costs, avoid getting pulled into the unsavoury situation of having to fire their managers and replacing them at the drop of a hat. That takes away attention from the field and the players on it.

Arsenal need to find someone who can smoothly transition the side back to the glory days of Wenger and that can be achieved only if the manager is allowed to stay in his job so that he can prove his worth.

Also read: Arsène's Arsenal: Forever and for always

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Edited by Zeeshan Ali