Mikel Arterta, the heir to Guardiola’s throne

Mikel Arterta is the heir to Guardiola’s throne considering they both employ the same footballing philosophy. The two coaches hail from Spain, and Arterta was even Guardiola’s assistant for years at Manchester city.

Guardiola is arguably the greatest manager in the world of football considering his expertise and achievements. Therefore Mikel Arterta serving under his watch has moulded him into a world class coach, who looks set to take over Guardiola’s footballing heritage.

Mikel Arterta, the heir to Guardiola’s throne

The first reason Mikel Arterta is the heir to Guardiola’s throne, is his team’s possessive style of play. The current Arsenal manager, has transformed the club from a mid table team to title contenders in just three years.

Mikel Arterta’s team plays the same possessive football played by Pep Guardiola’s teams ( Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester city). Arterta’s team love to dominate possession and control proceedings; an approach that has been working perfectly in their favour all this while.

Another reason Mikel Arterta is the heir to Guardiola’s throne, is his love for attacking football. Arterta has demonstrated to a great extent that he learnt a lot while serving under Pep Guardiola.

He sets up his team to play almost the same attacking football Guardiola’s teams would play. This attacking football entails direct attacking, forward players pressing opposition defenders on the front foot, and the use of wide wingers.

With this approach he has been able to get the best out of young wingers at his disposal( especially Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli), and has also transformed Arsenal’s fortunes.

The third and final reason Mikel Arterta is the heir to Guardiola’s throne, is his achievements so far. Arterta may not have won the Premier League with Arsenal so far, but he has managed to place second in two successive seasons.

He has also won a couple of domestic cup competitions. They are; the Fa cup , and the Community shield. The latter remains the memorable triumph among the rest, considering he defeated his mentor Guardiola to lift the trophy.

Arterta has demonstrated some kind of promise in terms of winning trophies; a feat that can be likened to Pep Guardiola’s many triumphs.

With all these parallels drawn between these two managers, Mikel Arterta seems certainly the heir to Pep Guardiola’s throne.

Source: samdailysports.com