MIKEL ARTETA and Per Mertesacker arrived at Arsenal on the same day but never imagined that 12 years later they would be running the club from top to bottom.
When Arteta hung up his boots to become a coach at Manchester City, he wrote a letter to the board telling them to make sure they didn’t allow Mertesacker to also slip through their fingers.
And when Arsenal were looking to replace Arsene Wenger as manager, it was Mertesacker who recommended they give the job to his former team-mate.
Now the former German international defender is charged with securing the club’s long-term future as head of their academy.
And ahead of tomorrow’s FA Youth Cup final against West Ham, he is desperate to bring the glory days back to the Emirates.
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He says: “When me and Mikel were playing together we had a few Champions League seasons and won a couple of FA Cups, but we couldn’t get it done in terms of League titles. So it was OK but not outstanding.
“But now we want to be more successful in terms of trophies and major titles and hopefully build the next generation of players who can make the difference.
“I had three weeks in charge of the team with Freddie Ljungberg when Unai Emery left and it was the shock of my life.
“It was overwhelming for me and I quickly realised that management was not something I wanted to pursue so I was pretty happy to go back to my job in charge of the academy.
“Mikel had quite a tough task when he came in as manager. He wanted to develop the squad based on values to set the tone for the whole club.
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“He’s clearly changed the direction of the club and he’s taken us into a wonderful position fighting for the League title.
“And the way he dealt with some of the players, that set the standards and made it so much easier for me.
“Now I can ask the young academy players ‘what will Mikel say about this behaviour? Do you think he’ll accept this? Do you think it will make it easier to get into the first team?’ That has a big impact.”
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The last time Arsenal reached the FA Youth Cup final in 2018, Bukayo Saka and Emile Smith Rowe were members of the team beaten by Chelsea.
Now those two are established first team stars and the fact that Arsenal have the youngest team in the Premier League is going to make it even harder for the next generation of youngsters to break into the big time at the Emirates.
Mertesacker admits: “Next season we’re going to be in the Champions League and I’m sure it will be even more difficult to get into that squad.
“It’s a bigger challenge but we have to keep producing home-grown youngsters within our first team, so it’s down to the players to convince Mikel that they can play a part.
“If they’re good enough, no-one will be rejected because these boys are watched and assessed on an almost daily basis so they constantly have to be on their toes and jump on every opportunity that comes their way.
“I remember when Alex Iwobi couldn’t go to a youth cup game for whatever reason and Arsene Wenger saw him in one training session and was immediately interested.
“These youngsters have multiple chances to impress and show they can be trusted. But it’s not going to be the rosy pathway that everyone sees on social media.
“There are going to be tough moments and disappointments but coping skills are the biggest talent and my job is to equip everybody in the academy with the right tools.
“Obviously developing young talent is why we are here but we believe we can also teach a lot of values and still be a fantastic person in the future.”