31 March 2024 , 04:00
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They have been in the same sphere for much of the past 27 years and the narrative remains stronger than ever: until Mikel Arteta wins a major trophy, he will not fully emerge from Pep Guardiola ’s shadow.
This afternoon Arteta’s Arsenal head to Manchester City looking to make a statement in the Premier League ’s first bonafide three-way title race since 2010. The league will not be won on Easter Sunday but the grip on the trophy could be loosened. And for Arsenal to succeed the apprentice must outsmart his master.
Arteta has been intertwined with Guardiola ever since joining Barcelona ’s academy as a teenager in 1997. "He was my idol,” Arteta said several years ago. “He was the one to try to emulate if I wanted to be a first-team player at Barcelona and we built that relationship from there.”
And while the Basque never made it as a regular in the Barca first team, at a time when Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez were graduating from La Masia, there was a neat symmetry to his debut in the pre-season of 1999.
In a friendly against Hertha Berlin, head coach Louis van Gaal replaced Guardiola, the club captain, with a 16-year-old Arteta.
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They would head in different directions: Arteta went back to Barca B before signing for Paris Saint-Germain, Guardiola would move to Italy at the end of the following season after 11 years in the first team at Camp Nou.
Yet their paths were never too far from crossing and Arteta had learnt plenty as he embarked on a solid playing career. Indeed it could be said that Arteta may never have signed for Arsenal in August 2011 if it was not for Guardiola, though the chain of events were unintentional.
Cesc Fabregas’ return to Barcelona, in the midst of a stylistic revolution under Guardiola, meant Arsene Wenger was in need of midfield reinforcements and Arteta arrived in a £10m deal from Everton.
Pep Guardiola has won eight of his meetings against Mikel Arteta - and none of their 11 games have ended in a draw.In an act of footballing serendipity, Arteta would settle in a patch of north London where Guardiola’s brother Pere, who has worked as an agent, was a neighbour.
And, as reported in the book ‘Pep's City: The Making of a Superteam’, when Barcelona were drawn against Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League semi-finals, Pep called Arteta in search of tactical knowledge.
Presumably impressed by the insight - despite Chelsea reaching the final - Guardiola continued to ask Arteta for insight when he joined Bayern Munich. And there was even an offer for Arteta to join Guardiola’s coaching staff many years before it eventually happened at Manchester City.
“When I was 30, I remember that Pep made the first call to say, ‘I might be coming to England, would you become my assistant?’" Arteta recalled. "I said: ‘I’m still playing! It’s still too early.’"
Pep Guardiola hands out instructions to Man City players alongside Mikel Arteta in 2017.But he would eventually call Guardiola in the summer of 2016 to ask “if the job was still available” when the Catalan was named City’s new head coach.
Arteta became the first confirmed member of Guardiola’s backroom staff and would last three years before returning to the Emirates. "I want the best for my friends and he is a friend,” Guardiola said as his lieutenant became a general in north London.
Guardiola has enjoyed eight wins from their 11 head to head meetings so far. Yet Arteta’s transformative impact on Arsenal cannot be understated. The question now is whether he can the next step towards a league title or European glory - and pull the rug from underneath the man who thought him so much.
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