Providing the cure to Arsenal's headache; Arsenal have found both a tactician and a physician in Mikel Arteta.
A lot has happened at the Emirates since the appointment of Mikel Arteta as Arsenal's head coach and the believe of every Arsenal faithful is that it can only get better from here.
Arteta took over at Arsenal at a very crucial period in the 2019-20 season with the team underperforming and a lot of hostile atmosphere between fans and players, most notably, the Granit Xhaka saga, which almost drive the midfielder out of the club as he nearly sign for a reported BundesLiga club believed to be Hertha Berlin back in January.
Arteta's first assignment was to persuade the Swiss midfielder to remain at the club which was a successful attempt and Xhaka has been a different player since then as his impressive performances proved vital in the remaining matches of last season.
In the summer of 2016, Arsenal signed Shkodran Mustafi from Valencia for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in excess of £35m but after few months of brilliance, the German world cup winner turns a mediocre defender, despite the huge sum invested in him by The Gunners.
Shkodran Mustafi was not only the problem in the leaky Arsenal defence though, the club have players who are brilliant individually but the defensive set-up, which had haunted them in Arséne Wenger's era continued to remained an issue post the Frenchman's reign.
Injuries to summer signing Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac did not help matters for Emery, though it does gave a chance to Bukayo Saka to show what he is made of and having not disappointed, the teenager became one of the few positives the club could point out of the Unai Emery's reign.
Further on the pitch, Arsenal signed Dani Ceballos on a season long loan from Real Madrid ahead of last season, but the Spaniard was unable to show his brilliance due to lack of minutes, even when players like Joe Willock endured a run of poor performances, Unai Emery seemed to not like calling on the 24year old midfielder.
Arsenal's record signing Nicolas Pepe was as bad as any other player in the squad, a fact that saw him dropped many times by Unai Emery, a decision which fueled the hostile atmosphere between the fans and the manager.
Overall, Arsenal endured a run of poor results before Arteta's appointment and since his arrival, Arsenal played 11 league games before the lockdown and their only loss came in a controversial 2-1 home defeat to Chelsea, while beating Manchester United and keeping five clean sheets, three more than they have managed (2) in 17 previous league games into the season.
Injuries to January arrivals, Pablo Mari and Cédric Soares meant Arteta will have an unchanged squad heading into the second half of the season but even at that, every memeber of the squad looks like a new signing and contributed to make the remainder of the season a success.
They also beat Liverpool 2-1 in the league, Manchester City and Chelsea at Wembley en route to finishing the 2019/20 campaign with the Emirates FA Cup silverware. Their 2-0 win over City at Wembley is also the first time Arsenal have kept a clean sheet against Manchester City in five years.
With the 2020-21 season fast approaching, The Gunners have added Willian on a free transfer, a good deal considering the club's low budget, and have also welcome the arrival of William Saliba, a last summer signing who spent the season on loan at Saint Etienne as part of the deal that brought him to the Emirates.
According to Multiple reports, The Gunners are close to announcing the signing of defender, Gabriel Magalhães from Lille in a €26m + €4m in add-ons deal. Hence, the club will have to let go of a number of defenders before the end of the summer transfer in order to raise funds for new signings.
Should Arsenal decide to cash in on any of its players, the player's value will have risen significantly compared to the value before the club appoint Arteta.
Wolves are linked with a £20m move for Ainsley Maitland Niles, while Rob Holding, Shkodran Mustafi among others could be on their way out of the club in transactions which will fetch the club the money needed to fund transfer of incoming players.
With the club heavily linked with Atletico Madrid midfielder Tomas Partey and others, the Arsenal faithfuls will believe and trust in the rebuild process of Arsenal under the supervision of Mikel Arteta, who along with Edu has been handed the role of signing and negotiating transfers for the club.
The Arsenal boss has also expressed his desire to lure Brentford coach and set-piece specialist Andreas Georgson to the club in other to address the set-piece area which has been one of the club's weaknesses in previous seasons.
On joining Arsenal, Willian confessed that Arteta told him about his intentions of winning the UEFA Champions League in three years time. This might be too optimistic but it is an encouragement to see the Arsenal boss’ drive to win a trophy which has eluded the club since it's foundation.
From here onwards for The Gunners, it is about to get better for the London club, who have endured a horrible past years having not win the League title since the Invincibles in 2004.
Arteta took over at Arsenal at a very crucial period in the 2019-20 season with the team underperforming and a lot of hostile atmosphere between fans and players, most notably, the Granit Xhaka saga, which almost drive the midfielder out of the club as he nearly sign for a reported BundesLiga club believed to be Hertha Berlin back in January.
Arteta's first assignment was to persuade the Swiss midfielder to remain at the club which was a successful attempt and Xhaka has been a different player since then as his impressive performances proved vital in the remaining matches of last season.
In the summer of 2016, Arsenal signed Shkodran Mustafi from Valencia for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in excess of £35m but after few months of brilliance, the German world cup winner turns a mediocre defender, despite the huge sum invested in him by The Gunners.
Shkodran Mustafi was not only the problem in the leaky Arsenal defence though, the club have players who are brilliant individually but the defensive set-up, which had haunted them in Arséne Wenger's era continued to remained an issue post the Frenchman's reign.
Injuries to summer signing Kieran Tierney and Sead Kolasinac did not help matters for Emery, though it does gave a chance to Bukayo Saka to show what he is made of and having not disappointed, the teenager became one of the few positives the club could point out of the Unai Emery's reign.
Further on the pitch, Arsenal signed Dani Ceballos on a season long loan from Real Madrid ahead of last season, but the Spaniard was unable to show his brilliance due to lack of minutes, even when players like Joe Willock endured a run of poor performances, Unai Emery seemed to not like calling on the 24year old midfielder.
Arsenal's record signing Nicolas Pepe was as bad as any other player in the squad, a fact that saw him dropped many times by Unai Emery, a decision which fueled the hostile atmosphere between the fans and the manager.
Overall, Arsenal endured a run of poor results before Arteta's appointment and since his arrival, Arsenal played 11 league games before the lockdown and their only loss came in a controversial 2-1 home defeat to Chelsea, while beating Manchester United and keeping five clean sheets, three more than they have managed (2) in 17 previous league games into the season.
Injuries to January arrivals, Pablo Mari and Cédric Soares meant Arteta will have an unchanged squad heading into the second half of the season but even at that, every memeber of the squad looks like a new signing and contributed to make the remainder of the season a success.
They also beat Liverpool 2-1 in the league, Manchester City and Chelsea at Wembley en route to finishing the 2019/20 campaign with the Emirates FA Cup silverware. Their 2-0 win over City at Wembley is also the first time Arsenal have kept a clean sheet against Manchester City in five years.
With the 2020-21 season fast approaching, The Gunners have added Willian on a free transfer, a good deal considering the club's low budget, and have also welcome the arrival of William Saliba, a last summer signing who spent the season on loan at Saint Etienne as part of the deal that brought him to the Emirates.
According to Multiple reports, The Gunners are close to announcing the signing of defender, Gabriel Magalhães from Lille in a €26m + €4m in add-ons deal. Hence, the club will have to let go of a number of defenders before the end of the summer transfer in order to raise funds for new signings.
Should Arsenal decide to cash in on any of its players, the player's value will have risen significantly compared to the value before the club appoint Arteta.
Wolves are linked with a £20m move for Ainsley Maitland Niles, while Rob Holding, Shkodran Mustafi among others could be on their way out of the club in transactions which will fetch the club the money needed to fund transfer of incoming players.
With the club heavily linked with Atletico Madrid midfielder Tomas Partey and others, the Arsenal faithfuls will believe and trust in the rebuild process of Arsenal under the supervision of Mikel Arteta, who along with Edu has been handed the role of signing and negotiating transfers for the club.
The Arsenal boss has also expressed his desire to lure Brentford coach and set-piece specialist Andreas Georgson to the club in other to address the set-piece area which has been one of the club's weaknesses in previous seasons.
On joining Arsenal, Willian confessed that Arteta told him about his intentions of winning the UEFA Champions League in three years time. This might be too optimistic but it is an encouragement to see the Arsenal boss’ drive to win a trophy which has eluded the club since it's foundation.
From here onwards for The Gunners, it is about to get better for the London club, who have endured a horrible past years having not win the League title since the Invincibles in 2004.
Thats wonderful
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