Mikel Arteta Arsenal
Granit was talking earlier in the week about how the critics fuel him. Is it the same for you?
I think I said before the interview. I cannot have more energy, more determination, and more desire to turn things around. I think nobody else has that more than myself at the moment. It’s not to do that, it’s because I know I’m looking in the opposite ways when we’re are doing well, when people are enjoying and when people feel part of we’re doing you get people happy. When we have that power I just focus on that. There’s always going to be people unhappy. I haven’t seen any single fan with a manager, with a player, that they are happy when you are losing football matches. It just doesn’t happen and it’s not realistic.
You’ve spoken about Pep instilling in you a desire to stick to your morals. Has there ever been a moment where you’ve questioned yourself during this run?
No. I know the direction. You have to be able to adapt, to see what is happening and how you can help the individuals on that pitch. Whether with your speech, or how you communicate with them or what you’re demanding them to do and adapt a little bit. But the direction is not gonna change.
You’ve signed five players who are 23 and under. Can you explain what type of personality and character you wanted this summer?
First of all we have to balance the squad in many different ways. In the development phase that they are in their careers and how we can evolve that. Then the qualities that we needed from that player in terms of our game model. And then what they’d bring to the team with their personality. In order to know that you have to know about their background, their families, how they’ve been coached, where they’re coming from, which experiences they’ve had in the past, how they’ve reacted. Then with all that information on the table, we try to make the right decisions for the football club.
Gary Neville argued that you didn’t have enough leaders in the squad to help the youngsters through. What would you say to that and who would you say they are?
Well, I think the best way to do it is to ask the young players. They live that situation every day. When you see the involvement they’ve had in the last year or so it’s thanks to those players that are constantly helping them, constantly giving them support, constantly telling them how good they are, how much they are helping the team, Probably that question is better for them.
You’ve spoken before about how having a bloated squad can affect the mood around the camp. What would happen if you can’t get those surplus players out of the squad in the next few days and how will that effect you going into autumn?
I don’t know. We have planned to try to do what we can do, and we have to adapt if we cannot do what we planned in the best possible way. But what I’m telling you now is that the attitude of the players has been spot on.
You’ve spent net £100million or so. Do you have to recoup money from player sales and where will the money come from if you don’t sell?
We will see what happens in the next few days. Everything that we’ve done is because we can do it, and what we’ve planned to do depends as well on the next decisions that we make.
The club have backed you a lot this summer with all the ins and outs, but do you long for a summer where you don’t have to do quite so much?
We analyse the situation and the position that we were in and we had to make big decisions. Those decisions that have been made with the technical part, with the board, with the financial guys that are involved with ownership, and then they support that plan. We are all in this. It’s a decision that we made a few months ago about how to move the club forward, the time that that would take, and the advantage that that would have medium and long term. We’ll stick to that and we’ll try to execute that the best possible way.
You’ve spoken about your passion to turn things around.
Because I really believe that, I really believe in what this club is trying to do. I see the progress, I see everything that has been changed around the club that it’s in a much better place, I see the atmosphere that we have, I see the belief the players have when we are coaching them and we need results. We’re going to have difficult moments and thankfully we know we’re going to have some difficult moments. It’s about trying to explain that situation, that narrative to everybody and getting everybody on board to that. Unfortunately it’s not going to happen, that’s the truth. Probably it’s the only solution that we had to get the club in a stable financial position as well with the ambition that we want to bring success to the club as quick as possible.
Is it right that you first met Pep when you were 15 as a Barcelona academy kid and he was club captain?
Yeah.
Were you similar characters in terms of that view of the game and the friendship that’s come over a period of time?
I don’t know. We clicked straight away, but thanks to him, because I always admired him because he was a first team player and I was 15 years old. He came really close to me and was extremely helpful from day one to try to help me, teach me and try to be in a relationship with me. After that we became friends, then we worked together and we had exceptional times together. Today that relationship is probably even stronger.
Do you feel that you’re very similar?
Personally, I feel like we are very different characters. We get on really well together and we love spending time together. We have that obsession about the game and understanding the game, and trying to find other ways to do it and to do on the pitch what we were taught when we were in Barcelona because we had a very similar education. That’s the way we live and breathe football. That’s why we love so much what we do.
Do you have a common interest outside of football?
Yeah. A laugh. I think we both spent a lot of time together, and one of the main things is because we laugh a lot together and we get on really well.
Which players are affected by the red list countries over the international break?
Hopefully no one. We have a few that can be affected by that, but we’re trying to get some clarity on that.
Have you spoken to them about that because lots of players will want to go and be with their country?
Yeah we have and we don’t want to be in the position where as a club that we have to restrict that. I don’t think that’s fair because it creates a conflict between the player and club. I don’t think it’s going to get to that stage and hopefully they can get results.
