Mikel Arteta: ‘Today and tomorrow I am the manager of Arsenal Football Club’

MIKEL Arteta insists he is “extremely happy” at Arsenal amid reports that Barcelona want him as their next manager.

The Spanish giants will be holding their presidential elections on Sunday, and front-runner Joan Laporta has reportedly identified Arteta as the perfect replacement for current Barca boss Ronald Koeman.

Arteta was a product of Barcelona’s youth academy but left in 2002 without making a first-team appearance for the club. He said yesterday (Wednesday) he is “fully focused” on Arsenal and their “tough” Premier League trip to Turf Moor on Saturday to tackle Burnley.

“There is always going to be speculation when there are elections in Barcelona,” said the Gunners gaffer. “It’s a huge team and obviously I was raised there as a player, and always going to be linked with the club.

“But I’m fully focused on the job that I have to do here.

“We have a lot to do and I’m really enjoying it. I feel privileged to manage this football club and I’m extremely happy.”

Quizzed on whether he could manage Barcelona one day, Arteta added: “Today and tomorrow I am the manager of Arsenal Football Club and I’m really enjoying it and I want to do much better than what we’ve done.”

Arteta was handed his first managerial job in December 2019 when Arsenal unveiled him as Unai Emery’s successor on a three-and-a-half-year deal.

With just over two years left on that contract, the Spaniard says talks over extending his stay at the Emirates “are not urgent”.

He continued: “We are in the middle of the season, we have a lot to play for and at the moment it’s not a priority.

“I still have my contract here and I’m happy here, and I don’t think it’s something urgent.”

Meanwhile, Arteta has warned his squad to expect another big test this weekend when the Gunners travel to Burnley. Arsenal lost the reverse fixture 1-0 in December as the Clarets recorded their first top-fight victory over the north Londoners since September 1974.

An incident-packed game saw Granit Xhaka dismissed after grabbing Ashley Westwood by the throat, before Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang became an unwanted match-winner by heading into his own goal.

“It is always really tough to play against them,” Arteta said. “At home it was a tricky game because we played with 10 men and we ended up losing on a set-piece, which is a big part of the game. Hopefully on Saturday we can have a very different result.”

Xhaka a shining example

SOME Arsenal supporters might not understand it, but Mikel Arteta has no doubts over just how important Granit Xhaka is to his team.

From on-field strops that cost the midfielder the captain’s armband, to far too many yellow cards for needless tackles, few players divide the fans like Xhaka. Arteta, however, doesn’t regret convincing the 28-year-old to stay at the Emirates Stadium when he took over as manager.

“If you have to put an example on that pitch about character and about going for every single goal with that determination, then probably it’s him,” said the Gunners boss.

“Granit has played more minutes than anybody else but he keeps going, even when he is so tired. He tries to help the team in the right way.”

Xhaka, meanwhile, believes the performance Arsenal put in to win 3-1 away at Leicester on Sunday must be the benchmark for the remainder of the season.

Goals from David Luiz and Nicolas Pepe, either side of a penalty from Alexandre Lacazette, saw Arsenal come from a goal down to secure their first win away to a top-three team in the league since 2015.

Xhaka said afterwards: “We won a lot of the duels, a lot of 50-50 balls, and the goals we scored were beautiful. I am so happy for the team.

“We have to do it game by game now – not for three games, not for four, we have to constantly be like this, with this energy, and this team spirit.”