Arsenal are said to be lining up a new contract for manager Mikel Arteta before the end of the season as they look to keep him from potential advances from Manchester City.
Our former club captain has endured a mixed time in charge of the north London club thus far, winning two trophies in his opening year in charge, before undergoing a huge rebuild.
His fine work appears to be paying off at present as we look to be mounting a serious challenge for the top four, while the biggest job achieved thus far was removing a number of unnecessary squad players and bringing in players with the fire to succeed whilst instilling a winning mentality into our side.
Arteta has just 18 months remaining on his current deal, and the DailyMail is now claiming that he will be offered a new two-year deal.
The report claims that we are keen to tie him down to new terms prior to him entering the final year of his current contract, knowing that Pep Guardiola’s current Man City deal also expires during the same summer.
It is a strange thought to think of losing Arteta just as we appear to be on the cusp of making a potential return to the Champions League, and just as the owners finally believe they have a cause worth backing.
While the Spaniard hasn’t always had the backing from the fans, the Kroenke family have shown that they are certain, and the way they have invested in building the team has been huge for the club, and losing one key cog could easily undo all our hard work in recent seasons.
Watch Mikel Arteta talk about Arsenal v Burnley and the pressure on the race for Top Four
I wish they would hold off until the end of the season and see how the team finishes. If we don’t get back into European football it would be fair to ask why extend Arteta.
Personally it shouldn’t be freely offered for a perceived threat of loss, but rather based on performance and progression.
What if we slip and finish 7th or even 8th again? What if we finish behind Utd, spuds, and West Ham?
No harm in waiting until the end of the season and seeing how we finish.
You’ve channelled my own thoughts and take on it.
Arsenal shouldn’t be extending his contract because they are afraid to lose him, rather they should extend it according to how they feel he has done so far. Is he achieving or has he achieved the agreed upon targets from his currently concluding contract? Is he on the same wavelength etc.
So if they are already talking about extending his contract when we are still not sure if we will make Top 4, Top 6 or finish 8th then what incentive does he have to push get better?
Arguably you could say thay about any manager or player who signs a long term contract – what incentive does Saka have to play well now that he is locked in to a five year contract?
Answer – a helluva lot. Both for Arteta and Saka and everyone else. Pep and Klopp aren’t mailing it in because they have long term security.
If Arsenal think Arteta is the right man then leaving it to the summer to renegotiate is a risk. Just like it is to allow a wanted player to run down his contract.
Nothing but a fake story planted in the press by our opponents. Arteta has done very little to justify a contract extension at this time. Give him credit for the FA cup win but, in my books, paying fringe players to leave doesn’t count as an achievement. A top four finish should be the benchmark. That’s exactly where we should be based on our wages.
This is a disgraceful and irresponsible comment. You really need to reflect on what you have written and apologize.
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They should wait till the end of the summer and if they give him contract extension before that time they will be revolt. If Spurs and Man utd finish ahead of us, I see no reason they should offer him contract extension. If Arsenal finish 8th again they should get interim manager by bringing wenger back and go all out for Luis Enrique to take over immediately after world cup in Qatar.
Lol
Bring wenger back?.
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Even with all the supposed ‘deadwoods’ in Wenger’s squad during 2014-18 (you know, the ‘mess’ he had let behind), that team played a better brand of football, and more importantly, also had better results than the current team.
Wenger as a short term solution to stablise the ship, or as a director of football works for me. Point is, why would he want to come back given the disgraceful way some of the fans, and the club, had treated him?
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People seriously can’t be still pining after Wenger? I want Arteta gone but bringing in Wenger would be going back to square one.. he’s in his 70s and hasn’t coached in years not to mention he’s long past it, in case anyone hadn’t noticed.. Wenger staying so long was probably the reason we didn’t get Klopp or Pep.
i would gladly swap him with pep even if he finishes up in fourth place.
It would certainly be interesting to see how much Pep could get out of this squad. Would he definitely do better? That is actually difficult to determine.
Pep would want a lot of new players.
A very good comment.
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Pained to read a disgusting comment from the PAL above, do we have some decency on this site ?The board achieved step 1 – setting the club free from the dross accumulated over the years.
Step 2 – ensure Mikel is tied down to a long contract, minimum 3 years to see his concept become a reality.
Step 3 – hire a top striker, CDM and able back ups for each position either through the academy /reserves or hired talent. From the media rumours/gossip, the club is working on step3.
Since Mikel is a perfect gentleman, not greedy like the senile one requested the contract extension to be delayed till the end of the season, and now is the right time to execute step 2.
You will get over it I’m sure PAL
My comment would certainly explain a lot though don’t you think because he certainly won’t be getting it for football reasons
Step 4 – no European football
Step 5 – no cup football
Step 6 – finish 8th twice
Step 7 – give players away
Step 8 – loan out players and then say we haven’t got enough fit players to play a NLD
Step 9 – sign dross players
Step 10 – get offered a new contract for being the perfect gentleman /magician
Funny old game LOL.
most of that we cant argue with Ken but dross players?
Every club takes a chance when signing any player, even top class players find it hard with certain clubs, playing under different managers and in different leagues – we all know this, its always a gamble.
Ramsdale, Tomi, White, Gabriel, Partey, Tavares, Sambi, Ode, have all settled well and are quality players and should improve alot except Partey who is older.
Mari, looked good he brought balance to the back line – spent more time in the treatment room than on the pitch – this can happen.
Cedris, not really a great player but has done ok when called upon, perfect squad player.
Willian – didnt work out at all and he left gracefully after 1 season.
I would say that he has brought quality into the team and has a pretty good success rate with his signings
The players we have are capable under the right manager to get 4th. The way we play and the lack of intelligent nous, is down to a manager out of his depth, unless you are happy with fighting for Europa league places, which is the absolute top of Artetas capability.
Val, I use the word “dross” as that is / was the key word used to describe players brought before MA’s time.
I actually hate the word (along with deadwood) and to use it against players who have become professionals in their chosen careers is wrong…. however, as this has been the way some fans (we know who they are) want to describe them, I feel it right to throw the insults back at them.
Petty? Probably, but it does give me a sense of satisfaction.
Yeah funny old world as well.
And before I say this, I am not convinced by Arteta.
Ken, funny how you can list all the mistakes and underachievements of Arteta. Funny how at the slightest opportunity you criticize him immediately.
But when it comes to Wenger (whom I respect greatly) it’s a different energy from you. Apparently he could do no wrong in your eyes. Keep that same energy Ken, why did you not list out Arsene’s many mistakes? In your opinion it’s only the last 2 years he slightly messed up. Lol. I have always said this, Arsene is one the greatest managers in our history, but let’s not pretend that he did not have a role in some of the mess we had to and still have to deal with. Try some Balance Sometimes Ken.
As for Arteta, as it stands, not good enough.
Read my article on Wenger’s failings that was published in JA fancealot and you will see that I criticised him for failings before his final two years.
I only try to compare like for like and judge MA in the same way as AW (and UE) were judged.
I haven’t seen you criticising what LC has written about AW, so ask yourself why you aren’t criticising him in the same way you are me?
Cannot understand how they have spent so much but still have such a poor squad. Or how managers like Conte seem to get their teams on track so fast while we’re still passing the ball backwards and sideways almost three years on. This is going to go pear-shaped. Script’s almost complete; ‘How to blow half a million dollars on nothing really’
The squad is not the problem the driver is. Arteta is not a top top manager how ever much people try to defend him. He has proved absolutely nothing, to say he can step up on what he has done so far. The 250k so far has been wasted.
I feel like we’ve been here before, on the one hand, we have those who’re justifiably miffed by another disjointed and rather listless outing, while, on the other hand, we have a whole host of Apologists who continue to adopt the same excuse-laden approach to postgame analyses that has become all too familiar refrain for our current manager…sound familiar…of course, there are some significant differences to a previous regime, but the dynamics at work are eerily similar from both a managerial and fanbase perspective, which is rather disconcerting
many within the first group are fed up with the continued deployment of nonsensical tactics that are far too easy to defend and offer up very little in the way of real goal-scoring opportunities…to make matter worse, our current approach invites pressure yet we appear to have no definitive plan in place to effectively punish the opposition when they overcommit in our final third…so from a purely analytics standpoint it’s an unmitigated disaster at both ends of the pitch, in that when our tactics are too predictable and/or negative we lack the finishing quality required to make good on our few grade A chances AND we likewise allow the opposition considerably more time on the ball in our final third, yet we not only spent heavily on a defensively spotty CB, we also don’t employ/deploy a true DM…it’s so obviously counter-intuitive
all along, in the face of these obvious inconsistencies, those with Apologist leanings continue to heap praise on the manager whenever we put in a performance of some consequence, yet when we underperform they tend to point their fingers of blame in every direction except towards the manager himself…you simply can’t have your cake and eat it too
some will even suggest that we should be more patient, which I would agree with if MA had started the “rebuild” immediately following his appointment, or at least that first summer, but that simply wasn’t the case…by failing to do so, he created a sense of urgency that wouldn’t have even existed if he hadn’t tried to cheat the system by attempting to do the near impossible, win now and play for the future, so now appears as if we wasted 18 months for no apparent reason
even if you subscribe to the whole “rebuild” narrative, you have to ask yourself why hasn’t our manager shown the requisite tactical flexibility this sort of experimental phase requires and/or given opportunities to those outside the starting 11, for internal and external valuation purposes, as raising funds for future acquisitions while continuing to developing prospects are imperative for any reinvention with long-term aspirations
so what we have here is a manager who can’t fully commit to the “process”, as he’s so fearful of losing that he’s largely ignored several of the foundational elements of a true “rebuild”, yet he likewise can’t get fully commit to winning now as he lacks the tactical nous required to get the best out of our current bunch…it’s like he’s paralyzed in the moment, as it’s simply too big for him, which means we not only lack a functional plan B on the pitch, our plan A is amateur hour personified
of course, every manager needs to navigate these types of managerial hurdles, unfortunately when you hand the reigns over to someone with no pedigree whatsoever it has a tendency to be considerably more problematic, as their flying by the seat of their pants with no past experiences to draw upon…maybe it would be best if we thanked him for his efforts, as we’ve got some pieces to build upon, then go and get someone who can take this project to the next logical level
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Excellent 100% accurate post and a great wordsmith TRVL.
Thinking of extending his contract at this stage is weird, they should wait and let’s see where it’ll ended this season, We only have one tournament to focus on and that’s what he EPL, and if we didn’t make a top 4 finish, I don’t think he deserves a contract extension.
so now it appears as if…
If it was up to me, I would have kept Arteta even if he came eighth. I believe he is the right person to get the team out of its slack.I believe in the strategic way of rebuilding rather than keep changing of the technical management every time and then.I believe he has shown enough skills and talents to keep his job.
Clear and succinct.
Well done.
So three 8th place finishes and you would still keep Arteta on ,and David actually agreed with you …..ok…..
The comment was clear and succinct and I feel that was commendable.
I am sure there will be a review of the season which will include a reasonable appraisal of the teams progress or otherwise. The appraisal should take account of (but not be limited to) the team’s league position.
Yes Dan that is what we are up against!!!!!!
He’s steadied the ship very well, now it’s time to get a top manager to actually coach our young team to the next level.
Since Wenger left we’ve been very up and down and have wasted some opportunities to get back into top 4. If we get a top coach and 1 or 2 of his signings I think we could get into top 4 no problem.
We should approach these managers
Option 1 Mancini
Option 2 Ten haag
Option 3 Gasperini
Option 4 Potter
Lets wait and see what happens before jumping the bandwagon. Is the story really true? If so, I believe the Board must wait until summer and see where the Club is positioned by than to have a fair idea of the direction the Club is heading under Arteta.
‘Arsenal are said to be lining up a new contract for manager Mikel Arteta before the end of the season as they look to keep him from potential advances from Manchester City.’
Damn, how time flies! I could have swore that Christmas has gone, and now it’s April already?
Rewarded for constant failings , how this club as fallen .
If these very loose rumours are proven to be true it would be premature to make such a decision. Even if you look at it from a business /financial pov. Because if things were to go horribly wrong for him after signing the new contract and the board decided to sack him then the pay off will be bigger than if he was dismissed from his current contract. Why not just renew near the end of his current contract if he is obviously meeting the clubs targets?
Thing is mate what are the clubs targets ?
Reading some of the comments on here alone in the last few months apparently as long as we finish better than the 2 pathetic previous seasons it’s called progress .
Now if the board take that same view we really are in trouble ,hopefully they have told him top 4 or you sling your hook especially with the outlay we’ve seen backing him .
He’s obviously here till the season ends but he will know deep down he’s one lucky person to even still be in the job when you compare is record to the 2 previous managers .
Controversially even if Arteta did achieve top 4 I would still look to bring in an experienced manager like Mancini or Ten haag because playing in the champions league will be tough with our young inexperienced squad and I believe reaching top 4 would be his ceiling just like Lampard and Ole.
Agreed mate 👍
I dont think this story is credible at all. City will not need fending off, they will not be interested in Arteta. Totally made up but it is the Mail, they do write a lot of fabrication.
So thrilled at this likely good news. I am not at all surprised but am so glad to see all the MA doom mongers about to have eggy faces, once this likely happening is confirmed. It will be a very smart move by our club. Unlike so many, I can easily see the clear improvement at our clubin so many ways and not merely the results but other important avenues too.
Such as defending our club from the slurs about us cheating the sytsem when asking for postponements. It is only a shame that we did not do so back in August when we had so many players out.
I don’t get it. Does the article insinuate that City will see me to replace Pep with Arteta? Really
My take is let the season ends and see where we are before thinking of any extension.
I think wishful thinking Arteta going to City. He would last the first year maybe, but his lack of style and negative tactics won’t fly at City. He struggles to adjust tactically, and can’t scheme with the top managers like Klopp.
Having Pep brand of football and results only to hand the reigns to Arteta? He would never last the length of his contract.
City are more ambitious than taking Arteta.
One of the problems with your opinions is that you are assuming that Man City and others see the world the same way you do.
You seem to believe for example that Arteta should have been sacked from Arsenal. However, those who make the decisions have kept him in post and he has outlasted a number of other managers in the premiership. If Pep were to leave Man City, it is quite possible that they will see in Arteta a suitable replacement.
The Arsenal board in supporting Arteta appear to be playing the “long game”. They therefore need to consider how they approach this carefully. If they do not address his contract in suitable time they will inevitably undermine his authority. I do not feel that Arsenal can afford to do this at this stage.
It’s all very well saying that we can go and get some other manager but getting an elite or suitable manager is an expensive and complicated process which requires careful and considered management in it’s own right.