“You need them” – Ian Wright warns Arteta about management of 5 Arsenal players

Ian Wright has told Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta to start managing players who fall in the "grey area".

Arteta took over at Arsenal in December 2019. Ever since his appointment as manager, he has implemented a strict player management policy at the club. Several players have had fallouts with the Arsenal boss, including some big name first team stars.

Former Arsenal legend Ian Wright has told Arteta to start managing in the gray area instead of taking extreme decisions over the future of every player.

“Mikel has come in and it’s very black and white,” said Wright. “He has to manage the grey area. You are talking about a midfield, at the moment, we have got (Matteo) Guendouzi out on loan. (Lucas) Torreira is out on loan. (William) Saliba is out on loan. We just let Ainsley Maitland-Niles go on loan."

Wright added:

“You just mentioned Aubameyang. I think you have to manage that situation simply because you need them. You use the players that are contracted to the club. Look what happened with (Mesut) Ozil when we needed a number ten. That kind of management is something he will learn to get better at. You have to use the players.”

Arteta has a short rope for players at Arsenal

One of the age-old dilemmas of management has been the handling of big players. While several managers have excelled at tactical brilliance, many have fallen short of implementing them at big clubs.

The reason behind this has primarily been their failure to bring together the varying personalities of the big egos in the dressing room. While some managers fail to convince their players, others simply omit them from their squads.

Arteta seems to have taken the second type. He has already parted ways with the likes of Guendouzi over disciplinary issues. He could never bring in Ozil and now seems to have struck a problem chord with Aubameyang as well.

While some fans have praised the manager for being a no-nonsense boss, others believe Arteta needs to learn better management of the more difficult players.

Wright has correctly pointed out that Arsenal need to use some of these players who have been iced out by Arteta. The club has already brought in several new players and they cannot keep replacing squad members at the whims of the manager.