Jorginho urges Arsenal to tie Mikel Arteta down to a new long-term contract | OneFootball

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Jorginho believes Mikel Arteta has created “something special” at Arsenal and has urged the club to tie him down to a new contract.

Arteta has been at Arsenal since 2019 and in that time he has turned them into genuine title contenders.

The Spaniard will have just one year left on his current deal come the summer and he has been linked with a number of big clubs, such as Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.

But Jorginho, who himself signed a new contract with Arsenal this week, believes it is vital the Gunners keep hold of Arteta.

“I feel that he could stay way longer,” he said. “I feel he feels good here and I honestly don’t see him going.

“It is really important for the club for him to stay because him, with Edu and the board, the whole club, they created something special. I don’t believe he wants to go as well.

“What he (Arteta) has been doing here since he joined has been incredible. It is not just a coincidence where we are now.

“It is such a long process that he has been doing really well with the club, and now with the team, with the fans.

“The whole thing is working really well because everyone is looking in the same direction. Every little part that you add to the team is just to make the team better and achieve things.”

Jorginho joined Arsenal in January of last year, arriving from Chelsea for £12million, and the midfielder has revealed it was the fourth time Arteta has tried to sign him.

“The first time when he was at City and I was in Naples,” he said. “That was the first time and then he tried twice when he was here and it didn’t happen.

“But now fortunately it happened, I am here, happy, having the opportunity to work together with him and learning a lot from him.”

Jorginho is not the only ex-Chelsea player at Arsenal, with Kai Havertz following him last summer after leaving Stamford Bridge, too.

The German moved for a fee of £65m and he came under fire in the early stages of his time at Emirates Stadium.

Havertz, however, has now won his doubters over and Jorginho admits he spoke to the striker to ensure he did not lose faith.

“I always knew because I know Kai,” he said. “That is part of the game as well, isn’t it?

Jorginho and Kai Havertz have shone since leaving Chelsea for Arsenal

AP

“I spoke with him as well: ‘Stay calm, let them talk, keep doing your job as you always do. Work hard and you are going to come through this even better.’

“And that is what has happened I think. And I am really happy for him. He is an amazing, amazing guy and he deserves everything to go really well for him.

“I think he is a human being. You hear those things, you feel them and it is up to you how you take them.

“You can take them and let them get you down - or you take the criticism and use it as a motivation.

“I think he used them as a motivation to prove them wrong and he did and I am really glad.

“And I am glad that we were all together behind him to support him. That is what we do here.”

Jorginho’s influence off the pitch, as well as on it, is why he is so highly valued by Arsenal and part of the reason behind his new contract.

The 32-year-old can regularly be seen coaching players from the sidelines during games and Declan Rice has dubbed him ‘Tom Brady’ after learning off him.

“I think he (Rice) is growing every single day, he is a humble guy,” said Jorginho.

“He wants to learn and he works hard so much and sometimes I tell him: ‘You are running too much in training today, calm down a little bit’.

“He is like: ‘Jorgi I just go’. I say: ‘No no, save those legs a little bit’.

“He is an incredible player, he adds to any team in the world and we are glad he joined us and helped us and he will help England for sure.”

As for Jorginho, he is still confident he has plenty in his legs and there are no thoughts about when he could retire one day.

“I feel young and I feel good and I want to play as much as I can,” he said.

“I am doing my badges but I don’t know where or when to finish to be fair. I just want to enjoy as much as I can as I love playing football.”