Arsenal have confirmed Mikel Arteta as their new head coach replacing Unai Emery who was sacked in November after 18 months in charge.
The London club made the announcement on Wednesday after striking a deal with Manchester City, where Arteta was serving as Pep Guardiola’s assistant.
This is the 37-year-old’s first stint at managerial duties, and he faces a huge task of getting the struggling Gunners back to form.
Arsenal currently lie in tenth place after 17 games with 22 points, seven points behind Chelsea in fourth place.
Arteta signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with the Londoners, and is expected to take charge of Saturday’s game against Everton at Goodison Park.
The Spaniard is a former Arsenal player who featured 150 times and found the back of the net 16 times.
“This is a huge honour. Arsenal is one of the biggest clubs in the world. 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, and the senior people from the club,” Arsenal.com quotes Arteta.
“We all know there is a lot of work to be done to achieve that but I am confident we’ll do it. I’m realistic enough to know it won’t happen overnight but the current squad has plenty of talent and there is a great pipeline of young players coming through from the academy.”
