"He couldn’t deal with Ozil, Aubameyang" - Mikel Arteta ended up implementing advice from Unai Emery at Arsenal, claims journalist

Football journalist Guillem Balague recently claimed that former Arsenal boss Unai Emery urged Mikel Arteta to implement four to five things after the latter took over as manager, including offloading Mesut Ozil and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Unai Emery was named as Arsene Wenger's replacement in the summer of 2018. Despite having a positive start to his Arsenal managerial tenure, the Spaniard was sacked in November 2019 due to the Gunners' poor form.

The 51-year-old managed a host of stars during his time at the Emirates, including Ozil and Aubameyang. He won 43 out of his 78 games in charge, with a win percentage of 55.13%.

Arsenal appointed Mikel Arteta as their new permanent manager a month later. As per Balague, Emery called Arteta to advise the latter going forward.

Balague said (quotes via HITC):

"I was having dinner with Unai in Unai’s restaurant in Valencia. He had just left Arsenal. I said, 'Why don’t you talk to the managers that are coming in? Why the managers don’t talk to each other because you have such an amount of knowledge here?'. He said, 'Well, we don’t tend to do that'."

He added:

"Hold on. So, I pressed a number. 'Mikel Arteta here'. And they started talking. And four or five things that Unai told Mikel on that day were four or five things that Mikel ended up doing."

"So, it was not much he couldn’t deal with Ozil, Aubameyang or whatever, it’s just that perhaps he was unable to, but he knew that had to be dealt with, and eventually Arteta did that.”

Arteta eventually did fall out with both Ozil and Aubameyang. Despite once being club heroes, both stars left the club in 2021 and 2022, respectively.

The Gunners boss has done well for himself since taking over as manager four years ago. He has won 111 out of his 193 games in charge, boasting a win percentage of 57.51%.

---

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta gives verdict on Kai Havertz ahead of FC Copenhagen clash

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta gave an honest verdict on Kai Havertz during his pre-match press conference ahead of his side's UEFA Champions League clash against Sevilla on Tuesday, October 24.

Havertz has struggled to get going this season since joining from Chelsea in the summer for £65 million. Despite being deployed as a midfielder rather than a forward, the German has only managed two goal contributions in 13 appearances across all competitions.

However, the 24-year-old has fond memories of the Champions League. He famously scored the winner during Chelsea's 1-0 against Manchester City in the 2021 final, winning his maiden UCL trophy.

When asked if Havertz will be back to his best in a competition he has already found success in, Arteta replied (via Arsenal's official website):

"That’s certainly one of the reasons, plus quality and the number of things he has already done in his career at his age, and then to improve the starting XI as well because he has tremendous quality, and that is going to help us to be better."

The Gunners are currently second in Group B with three points from two games, one point behind leaders Lens.