Luis Fernandez launched Mikel Arteta as a player under the colors of PSG in the early 2000s. And the French technician today admits to being amazed by the successful reconversion of the former midfielder as coach of Arsenal.
He tiptoed into the capital one winter evening at the age of 18. Without any professional matches on the clock. While he played with the FC Barcelona reserve, Mikel Arteta launched his career at PSG brilliantly at the start of 2021. It was Luis Fernandez, then on the Parisian bench, who brought him on loan after hearing about his talent when he coached Athletic Bilbao. More than twenty years later, the French technician admits to being amazed by the successful reconversion of the former midfielder as Arsenal coach. Now aged 42, the Spaniard is preparing to challenge PSG with his Gunners, this Tuesday in the Champions League (9 p.m.).
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“I would never have imagined him as a coach,” confides Luis Fernandez to Ouest-France, thinking back to Mikel Arteta’s debut in Paris. “He was ‘Mr. Silence’. He never said anything, he accepted that his teammates reframed him on the pitch.”
“Pep Guardiola taught him a lot”
While the native of San Sebastian was Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City, at the end of the 2010s, Luis Fernandez was invited to come and see him in England. And he was surprised by the evolution of his former foal, much more talkative, mature and charismatic than during his playing days. “When I saw him shouting on the pitch when he was leading the session, I said to myself that this was not the person I knew,” recalls the beIN Sports consultant. “I saw that he had the profile to be a future coach. Pep was his teacher, he taught him a lot.”
After being nicknamed “little Guardiola” during his emergence at the Parc des Princes and having closely observed his youth idol on a daily basis at the Etihad Stadium, Mikel Arteta now faces Pep Guardiola in the Premier League. And the fight has been tightening for several years between Arsenal and City. After six days, the Gunners, third in the standings, currently have the same number of points as the Citizens, who occupy second place behind Liverpool.
