Arsenal: Mikel Arteta says it's 'impossible' to see him manage another club | OneFootball

The Gunners boss on Friday celebrated five years since his appointment

Arteta celebrated his five-year anniversary at Arsenal on Friday after being handed the job in December 2019 following the sacking of Unai Emery.

In that time, Arteta has transformed Arsenal into title contenders and his connection to the club has grown after captaining them as a player.

And asked if he could ever imagine managing another Premier League club, Arteta said: “At the moment, impossible.

“I think you have to live in the present in this job. Obviously you have to plan for what is coming in the mid and long term, that’s for sure, and we have a lot of conversations regarding that.

Mikel Arteta has reached five years at Arsenal

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“But I think the energy has to be in the moment, paying attention to every detail and understanding how things are working, putting more processes in place to make better decisions and obviously have that aim to keep everybody fit, to get the best out of them and make sure that they feel part of what we do.”

Arsenal was Arteta’s first ever job in management after previously working as an assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City following his retirement in 2016.

Arteta has had to learn on the job and he believes that there is still more work for him to do.

“In all of them,” said Arteta, when asked what areas he can improve in.

“Probably when I arrived I was very, very obsessed with the tactical aspect of the game, and then straight away two or three months after I took the job I realised that there were no tactics to do, we were sitting at home with Covid, we had to look after the club and the players in a different way, and the emotional and physical part was a very important one.

“So just that evolution, probably putting the priorities in other aspects, the focus and spending time in other things. That’s what I think I try to do.

“The team has always certain requirements, but they can change and they can shift in relation to moments and individual players, or collective momentum that we have in the team, and the coach has to be able to adapt and prioritise those things to help them as much as possible.”