This archive report was first published on 20 December 2019.
On December 20, 2019, Arsenal announced the appointment of Mikel Arteta as their new head coach, marking a significant change in the club's fortunes.
Arteta, a 37-year-old Spaniard, has a deep understanding of the club, having played over 100 games for Arsenal between 2011 and 2016. He has also served as Pep Guardiola's assistant at Manchester City for the past three years.
Arteta replaces Unai Emery, who was sacked last month, and faces a daunting task in reviving the team's performance. Arsenal has won only once in 12 matches, with their last victory coming against West Ham under interim manager Freddie Ljungberg.
"This is a huge honour. Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world," Arteta said in a statement.
"We need to be competing for the top trophies in the game and that's been made very clear to me in my discussions with Stan and Josh Kroenke (owner and club director, respectively) and the senior people from the club," he added.
Head of football Raul Sanllehi praised Arteta, saying, "We met several top-class candidates and Mikel stood out to every single one of us as the perfect person for us."
