MIKEL Arteta manages Arsenal Football Club in the English Premier League as the first ex-player to assume such a coveted post in the history of the North London club. He is one of the post-Arsene Wenger’s (the club’s longest-serving manager) managers and his stint as the manager is gradually redefining the club’s history as a club without proper management of players.
Arteta kickstarted his coaching career as an assistant manager to sister English club, Manchester City, between 2016 and 2019 and became Arsenal’s manager on December 22, 2019 after the stints of the duo of Unai Emery and Fredrich Lumberg (the latter acted in an interim capacity).
Arteta began his Arsenal career on an ambitious note with the triumph over Chelsea for the 2020 English FA cup and Liverpool for the community shield in the same year. These two victories raised the hopes of the club’s teeming supporters that their darling club is back to a harvest of trophies but the turn of events in recent times has dashed such hopes. The club’s EPL struggles since Arteta took over the reins have left much to be desired. The club came fifth in the 2019/2020 season, garnering 70 points; eighth in the 2020/2021 season with a paltry 61 points and they are currently fifth in the current campaign (albeit with two outstanding matches).
Close scrutiny of Arteta’s management of players reveals that the atmosphere in the dressing room is far from conducive. It started with German playmaker Mesut Ozil, who joined the club in September 2013 and has made 184 appearances, scoring 33 goals and 54 assists. Ozil was the highest-paid player in the club at the time Arteta joined with a $350,000 per week wage and started the first ten matches under him before the coronavirus pandemic but did not get to play again until he made the switch to FC Fenerbahce of Turkey in 2021. The reason for ostracising Ozil was shrouded in secrecy as the club’s fans and football lovers were left perturbed as to why a club’s most paid player would be denied playing time. However, Ozil’s problem can presumably be traced to his Instagram post on the persecution of the Uighurs in China wherein he condemned the silence of other Muslims on the matter. He was quoted to have said:
“East Turkestan, the bleeding wound of the Ummah, resisting against the persecutors trying to separate them from their religion. They burn their Qurans. They shut down their mosques. They ban their schools. They kill their holy men. The men are forced into camps and their families are forced to live with Chinese men. The women are forced to marry Chinese men. But Muslims are silent. They won’t make a noise. They have abandoned them. Don’t they know that giving consent for persecution is persecution itself?”
Neither the manager nor the club management gave any hint on why the player was sidelined to the bench. What is, however, clear is that the handling of Ozil’s saga portrayed the English club as lacking managerial acumen in dealing with their players. Though there was a general opinion that Ozil is a lazy player, even at that, there was no way he could not have contributed to the build-up to goals and provide goal assists during the period he was an outcast at the club. The management at Arsenal could have handled the issue more resourcefully than the way it did. If Wenger’s opinion on France’s handling of Karem Benzema’s issue is anything to go by, then Arteta and Arsenal hierarchy were wrong in their handling of Ozil’s saga. Wenger advised France to recall the striker for Euro 2020 because issues relating to his ostracisation were not related to sports. Thereafter, France’s manager, Didier Deschamps, who had previously indicated he would not reverse his decision on Benzema because of his involvement in a blackmail controversy with former teammate Mathieu Valbuena, rescinded his position and invited him to the French team for the competition.
The aforesaid affirms that Arteta and the Arsenal management were wrong in their handling of the Ozil’s issue. Aside from the fact that the club is surcharged in terms of quality representation in the field of play had the player been used, it amounted to wastefulness for the club to have paid the player his $350,000 per week for sitting on the bench.
A similar scenario played itself out in the case of Pierre Aubameyang, who as the club’s highest earner and captain got his contract terminated in the January 2022 transfer window. Prior to that time, he had been sidelined on disciplinary grounds due to his late arrival to training. At Barcelona, Aubameyang has scored eight goals in ten matches, hence he has proved beyond reasonable doubt that Arsenal were wrong in allowing him to leave at the time it did. For a club contesting for fourth place, the presence of a top-notch striker like Aubameyang could have bolstered the club’s chances. What is equally worrisome is the club’s inability to find a replacement for Aubameyang before the January transfer window closed.
The club’s recent good run is attributable to the superb form of the club’s young players like Ramsdale, Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Ben White, Martinelli, Gabriel, etc. but the presence of a prolific striker could have added more cutting edge to the club’s form. In a number of matches, the club struggled to win despite dominating the opposing teams. A case in point is the lone goal win over Aston Villa at Villa park, it was a game in which the North London club had dominance right from the blast of the whistle until the end of the match.
Considering the pedigree of Arsenal FC in the days of Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vierra, Ray Parlour and the others invincible, it can be rightly said that the team’s present attacking lines leave much to be desired. If Lacazette is flanked with mature strikers, he can do the dirty work while a natural No. 9 will just be banging in goals. He has formed a good partnership with Aubameyang in the recent past and the club have benefited from their combination. The presence of Aubameyang in the team, even if he does not score, constitutes a nightmare for any team, it will keep the defenders at bay and heap more pressure on the opposing team. The results of some previous matches which Arsenal lost could have been different had Aubameyang featured in the matches. The losses to Manchester City and Liverpool could have been averted had a prolific striker played in the matches. There is no doubt that the club has brilliant players but maturity counts in winning tension-soaked matches. It is not in any way acceptable that Arsenal lost both home and away to Liverpool and Manchester as it does not reflect the status of the English club. Arsenal belong to the elite in the English Premier League hence it should have enduring competition with the big clubs and not be content with victory over second-tier clubs in the EPL.
At a time the club is out of major competitions, it still struggles to clinch one of the top four Champion League spots. If experienced players like Ozil and Aubameyang had been in the fold, the club could have recorded comfortable wins in a number of matches and the club’s position in the league would have been different.
Even if Arsenal is able to book a Champions League spot, the handling of the Ozil and Aubameyang saga will go down in history as the club’s poor management of their star players. Arteta, Edu and others at the echelon of the club’s management need to realise that it takes tact and resourcefulness to manage star players. One wonders how a coach or club management, who cannot manage star players, can manage superstars. Can Arteta excel in a star-studded team like Real Madrid in Spain and Paris Saint-Germain in France? A manager who desires success will tolerate some off-field exuberance of his star players and not result in demoralising punishment as Arteta has done.
- Toyin Shittu writes from the Department of Languages (English Unit), Al-Hikmah University, Ilorin, Kwara State
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