40 Facts About Mikel Arteta

Mikel Arteta Amatriain was born on 26 March 1982 and is a Spanish professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Premier League club Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta represented Spain through several youth levels, but never played for the senior national team.

Mikel Arteta is often noted as one of the best players of the 21st century to be omitted a senior international cap.

Mikel Arteta was very open and spoke a lot with everyone.

Whilst at La Masia, Mikel Arteta grew up sandwiched between two budding club legends in Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez, he met then-Barcelona captain and his future coaching mentor Pep Guardiola during his time at the academy, whilst learning the practices of their then-head coach Louis van Gaal.

La Masia teammate Jofre Mateu believed that Mikel Arteta wouldn't make it at Barcelona purely because of his competition.

Mikel Arteta joined a star-studded team managed by Luis Fernandez, a team which included the likes of Mauricio Pochettino, Gabriel Heinze, Jay-Jay Okocha and Nicolas Anelka.

Mikel Arteta was used by Fernandez primarily as a playmaker during his time in Paris, he played 11 games in his first season and he scored his first senior goal on 12 May 2001 against Lille.

Mikel Arteta played 53 games in total for PSG and scored five goals.

Mikel Arteta enjoyed a successful first season in Glasgow and quickly established himself as a first-team regular.

Mikel Arteta started his second season with Rangers by scoring six goals in the first six games of the season as the club qualified for the Champions League group stages, although they did not qualify from that group and ended the campaign without a trophy.

However, Alonso left for Liverpool and Mikel Arteta failed to establish himself in the team, starting only three league matches in the half-season he spent back in San Sebastian.

Mikel Arteta was awarded the Player of the Season Award for the second consecutive year.

Mikel Arteta was voted the Premier League's 'Midfielder of the Year' by the viewers of Sky Sports, beating PFA Players' Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo to the award.

Mikel Arteta helped Everton secure a place in the UEFA Cup and was ranked by the ACTIM Index as the sixth best player in the Premier League, but it did not earn him a call-up into the full Spain squad.

Mikel Arteta then became the first Everton player in five years to receive the Liverpool Echo's Sports Personality of the Year award in January 2008.

Mikel Arteta suffered a stomach injury in the second half of the season, and shortly before the final game of the campaign, he underwent surgery to rectify the problem.

Mikel Arteta began to show again glimpses of creative power in the final part of the season, when he was played again on the wing, enjoying more freedom and space.

Mikel Arteta got his first chance to captain the Gunners in the third-round FA Cup victory over Leeds United, a game in that marked the second Arsenal debut of Thierry Henry.

Arsenal reached the 2014 FA Cup Final, with Mikel Arteta scoring against former club Everton in the quarter-final, as well as in the semi-final shootout against Wigan Athletic.

Mikel Arteta came on as a substitute and forced Aston Villa goalkeeper Mark Bunn into scoring an own goal after his shot went off the crossbar.

Mikel Arteta received a standing ovation from the crowd at full time.

In 2010, there were moves by the English FA and Fabio Capello to see if Mikel Arteta could represent England, believing he qualified under FIFA's five-year residency rule.

FIFA ruled this out with Mikel Arteta claiming in an interview in 2016 that he "almost went to war with FIFA" over the ruling.

Mikel Arteta was believed to be in Spain's squad in February 2009 but a cruciate knee ligament injury meant his name was removed from the list before the squad was announced.

Mikel Arteta initially started out playing as a number 10 in the Barcelona youth system, and was later shifted to the position of a "pivot" or defensive midfielder, as he was thought to be a player in the mould of Pep Guardiola.

Mikel Arteta returned to his original deeper midfield role at Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta was offered to lead the Arsenal Academy, by Arsene Wenger, join Mauricio Pochettino's backroom staff at Tottenham Hotspur or join Pep Guardiola's coaching team at Manchester City.

On 3 July 2016, Mikel Arteta was appointed an assistant coach at Manchester City, alongside Brian Kidd and Domenec Torrent, who operated as deputies to Pep Guardiola.

Guardiola and Mikel Arteta first met at the Barcelona academy, although Guardiola was already established in the first team, being 11 years older than Mikel Arteta.

At Man City, Mikel Arteta won two Premier League titles, an FA Cup, and two EFL Cups.

In 2018, Mikel Arteta became strongly linked with the Arsenal manager's vacancy, following the departure of his former manager Arsene Wenger, but Unai Emery was eventually hired.

On 20 December 2019, Mikel Arteta was appointed head coach at former club Arsenal, signing a deal until 2023.

On 23 January 2021, Mikel Arteta had his first defeat in the FA Cup in his managerial career as Arsenal was knocked out by Southampton in the fourth round, unable to defend the title.

Mikel Arteta became the 11th manager to have won the first five games of a Premier League season, after Kevin Keegan, Carlo Ancelotti, Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger, Alan Curbishley, Jose Mourinho, Manuel Pellegrini, Pep Guardiola, Maurizio Sarri, and Jurgen Klopp.

Mikel Arteta was the first manager to win the award in successive months since Manchester City's Pep Guardiola did so in November and December of 2021.

Mikel Arteta was involved in All or Nothing: Manchester City.

Mikel Arteta was born 26 March 1982 in San Sebastian, in the Basque Country of Spain.

Mikel Arteta is multilingual, and is fluent in Spanish, Basque, Catalan and English.

Mikel Arteta is married to Argentine-Spanish actress, television host, and model Lorena Bernal.