Mikel Arteta: coach with ‘British DNA’ who learned from McLeish and Moyes

Five years since the start of his Arsenal tenure, two of his former managers look at how his playing career shaped him

David Moyes wasn’t 100% sure when Mikel Arteta arrived at Everton. “He was a quiet boy and at the start we had to play him off the right of midfield,” he recalls. “I was thinking: ‘This is a young Spanish boy who might not be ready for the rigours of the Premier League and Goodison Park, for what is expected.’”

Alex McLeish sent his assistant Andy Watson to watch Arteta at Paris Saint-Germain when Rangers were considering signing him a few years earlier. “Different class, two good feet, quick enough, nimble,” Watson said. But there was a kicker. “He was never tested because PSG just rolled the ball out and it then took them 20 minutes to get to the halfway line!” It didn’t immediately scream “Scottish Premiership midfielder”, thought McLeish, picturing Aberdeen away on a wild, wet, winter’s afternoon.

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