Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on success demanding academy talent and trophies
02/05/2025
Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK
02/05/2025
Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK
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00:00I think to give a generic answer is very difficult.
00:25I think there are cases, you know, they know that many, you know,
00:28you mentioned three in Europe, we have two, so it's very, very rare.
00:34But when I'm talking about Max as well,
00:36it's now he's involved in the squad, he's trained with us a lot,
00:39it doesn't mean that he's going to play in the Premier League many games.
00:42I don't know, depending how good he is, how impressive he is,
00:45how much he offers the team, like Ethan, like Miles,
00:47like any other player in the squad.
00:49Do you think he could be that special case,
00:51like Ethan and Myles were in?
00:54I think he's in the right pathway and I think everybody at the Academy
00:56has done an incredible job to constantly, you know, protect him,
01:01inspire him, challenge him, keep him always up
01:05and at the levels that he could produce and he's doing really well.
01:10I think he's doing the right steps and take it slowly.
01:14I think he will dictate how fast we go.
01:16How much do you speak to him and when you speak to him,
01:18do you still feel like you're speaking to a very young person
01:21or do you see that he's mature and not just on one person as well?
01:26Well, you need to understand his age and the way you talk
01:29and communicate with him, but if you're looking from far
01:33and you don't know that he's 15 and you see sets of things that he does,
01:36if you have to judge him on that,
01:39you wouldn't treat him any different to any other player.
01:41Yeah, I was going to ask you one about Tom's pass.
01:51Obviously you missed him the other night,
01:53do you think you should show how important it is to him
01:56the other night if not being there?
01:59Yeah, it is very important.
02:01Obviously, it's a starter for us and he's the player that's played
02:03most minutes in the position and obviously for the biggest game of the season,
02:07we didn't have him, but I think Declan did a great job playing in there
02:13and we had other qualities in midfield and now we have him back,
02:16so more options.
02:17Are you thinking of rotating quite a bit
02:20or do you think it's going to be more important for the players
02:23to have that consistency of playing games?
02:26Let's see how everybody's tomorrow because today as well
02:29we still had some niggles and issues with a few players,
02:33so assess the squad well and we'll decide tomorrow.
02:36With Max there, you obviously spoke well,
02:41you said it a few times this season,
02:43could he be content to submit the pre-season squad at all this season?
02:46Who's that, Max?
02:48Yeah, we'll discuss at the end of the season
02:50and talk to Per, the academy coaches as well and him and his environment
02:55about how we're going to now create a development plan from next season
02:59like we do with any other player at the club
03:02and take the right steps, hopefully.
03:05In the Champions League, you've been very much big on the atmosphere
03:08and pumping up, especially at the Emirates at home,
03:11to get the fans behind the players.
03:13Obviously, after the PSG game, a few rival fans were making a bit mockery
03:18about the Tifos ahead of the game.
03:20What did you make of all that?
03:21Did you have any influence on the players or the Tifos?
03:24No, I just try to focus on and do everything that I can from my side,
03:30whether it is with the club or myself,
03:32to try to promote the best possible behaviours, atmosphere and energy
03:36to give the best support to the players
03:38because that would mean the best chance to win the game and perform.
03:42Apart from that, it has nothing to do with me.
03:43What did you make of the atmosphere on the last game in this game?
03:48Was it your expectations?
03:50It was, I mean, you can never try to replicate how it was against Madrid
03:56because it was like this, especially because the scoreline, the context
04:00and the manner that it happened, it was different after three and a half minutes,
04:04four minutes, you can see the goal and it is different,
04:06but I think it is an own analysis.
04:09I prefer to live with that.
04:11Okay, last couple of minutes.
04:12Gary?
04:13I think Gary said a couple of times this season about
04:16with miles and people coming through,
04:18it sort of shaped what you're doing in the transfer.
04:21You're thinking generally, now you've got Max coming into that equation.
04:25What's the balance of that between bringing them through
04:29and then winning trades?
04:31You obviously, at the time when Arsenal bring kids through,
04:34the criticism of what the kids could be living in trading,
04:36but the spirit of players, but what's your balance in that situation
04:39on the manager to kind of get that?
04:41That you're never going to get it right
04:43unless you bring academy players and win trophies.
04:46If you don't do those two things at the same time,
04:48you're never going to win.
04:49If you win something, yeah, but you don't have academy players,
04:52you'll spend a lot of money.
04:53If you are academy players, you don't win,
04:54you have to spend the money because academy players are not good enough.
04:57So both things together, we are in business.
05:00What do you feel about?
05:04I love the trophies and I love working with young players,
05:17especially the ones that have been throughout academy, our system,
05:22and see them play because I think that's a dream for any football club.
05:25So the first thing that we do is, what do we have in the academy?
05:28Can we look at them, can we promote them, can we make them the lead players
05:32that we're going to need to win trophies?
05:33Do they have this mentality?
05:35And then go because that's always a challenge.
05:38An academy player sometimes has a different mindset,
05:43different perspective of what he needs to do when he arrives to the first team.
05:46Because when you come from the academy to the first level,
05:48what do you want?
05:51And now I want to get set in the first team, going to the dressing room.
05:54Once you're in the dressing room, can I play a little bit?
05:57Once you play a little bit is, can I be a starter now?
06:00When you do a starter, can I have a new contract and earn my money?
06:03Once you have that is, can I now be more consistent and be a starter?
06:09And throughout that period, these three, four, five years,
06:11are you thinking about winning football matches and actually winning trophies,
06:15if you're thinking about your own steps, that's the very important mindset
06:20to go with the question that you mentioned before.
06:22Academy players that want to win, not to raise themselves
06:25or develop themselves to win for the club.
06:27That's it.
06:28What you're saying on that is when you see some of these young players come through,
06:31they go like that, and then suddenly there's a plateau
06:34or they go down because they don't get that consistency.
06:36It's harder than the second season season.
06:38How would you, what's the process for you to kind of help them?
06:44Because actually their challenge is going to come next year, not this year.
06:48Well, this year as well, you know, there are.
06:50But I mean, and the career of any football player normally is not linear up, you know.
06:55Even if we get by the best talent in Portugal for 50, 60 million,
06:59he comes here, maybe has three wonderful months,
07:02and then he has a drop for two or three months, and then there,
07:04and that's part of the game.
07:07That's funny.
07:08You mentioned earlier on that the most important thing,
07:10and the number one thing was not getting players sent off with 11 players.
07:15That's both really important.
07:16Why did you put that as number one?
07:19Sorry, then I didn't explain myself well.
07:20I said two things, two ingredients.
07:22Play with 11 players and have high availability of the squad,
07:26and especially the top players that win your matches.
07:28Both together.
07:29Together.
07:30Has the number one, or the first one, the red card,
07:34has that been sorted out for the team?
07:37I hope that, well, it's been because the rules at the beginning of the season
07:40were punished, and after 15 games were very different.
07:44So they resolved them.
07:45So hopefully next season we'll have some new rules for some games
07:50and then change them again.
07:52That would be great, if possible.
07:54Especially for all the teams, the same rules, at least.
07:58Would B.A.R. anything for that?
07:59No, well, hopefully not.
08:01OK.
08:02Yeah?
08:03Thanks, man.
08:04Good luck tomorrow on Tuesday.
08:05Thank you very much.
08:06Thank you, guys.
08:07Wednesday.
08:08Wednesday, yeah.