Mikel Arteta’s New Arsenal Deal: Building for Champions League Glory

The Arteta project

The announcement revealed It that Mikel Arteta has agreed to a new deal at the Gunners, with his current contract set to expire at the end of this season. After Pep Guardiola left Manchester City at the end of last season. Arteta became the longest-serving current Premier League manager when he was appointed as the Arsenal manager back in 2019, taking over from the current Aston Villa manager Unai Emery.

Since his first fixture as the Arsenal manager, a trip to Bournemouth on Boxing Day of 2019. That they drew, Arteta has overseen 361 matches for the Gunners, boasting a 62% win rate and only losing 77 times across almost seven years at the club. But it’s not just his impressive win ratio that has given him praise after all his time with the North London side. The reinvigoration of the squad has been the real admirable feature of his work since 2019.

Arteta’s stats as Arsenal manager (as of 23/09/26)

• Games Played: 361
• Won: 224
• Drawn: 60
• Lost: 77
• Trophies: Premier League, FA Cup, Community Shield (x3)

A real indicator of this progress can be seen in the team he inherited back in 2019…

Of that 38-man squad that played for Arsenal in the 2019/20 season, only one player remains: their star boy, Bukayo Saka, who was only 18 years old at the time he appointed and only worth 20million at the time. With this in mind, according to transfermarkt.co.uk, Arsenal had no players with a transfer value of over 60million, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang being closest at 56 million. Fast forward to today, Saka is worth more than five times his value, and Arteta’s side possess over 10 players with transfer values over 60million. A testament to the incredible success the Spaniard has had in creating a powerhouse in English Football.

What next for Arteta and his formidable side?

After bringing the Premier League title back to the Emirates for the first time since their historic campaign in 2003/04. A statement of success was made throughout the club and to the rest of the Premier League. Arsenal were back to the top of the table and were not going to be moved after a superb season, winning the league by a comfortable seven points.

In fact, the Gunners probably couldn’t have been closer to lifting the famous trophy for the first time in their history last season, losing out on penalties to a PSG that won the competition on back-to-back occasions. However, on the day, it could well be argued that the Gunners set themselves up for failure after taking an early lead through Kai Havertz. After taking the lead in the final, Arteta aimed to protect that lead and ideally see out the win, something that we had seen them do on multiple occasions throughout the season. But it all fell apart when Khvicha Kvaratskhelia gave Ousmane Dembele a golden opportunity via a penalty kick. PSG went on to win it when Gabriel sent his decisive penalty into the stands.

Therefore, the target for Arteta and Arsenal this season is clear and should be one that they can achieve: Win the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.

However, the nature of Arteta’s new deal is long-term. The aim of the board and owners of Arsenal will most likely be to sustain their success for long periods. The Spaniard is still the perfect man to do it. After seeing their progress from 2019, and with the current available managers, it would be almost ludicrous to look elsewhere.

Three aims for Arsenal with Arteta at the helm:

1. Win the Champions League
2. Continue to dominate in the Premier League, potentially winning back-to-back.
3. Leave a hugely strong platform for the next manager to inherit by growing the youth players.

The next steps in success for Arsenal after Arteta

After the great success in bringing up players in cases such as Saka, Miles Lewis-Skelly and Gabriel, Arteta’s next target should be to integrate more of the amazing talent that runs throughout the academy at Arsenal. A factor we have begun to see with their next wonderkid, Max Dowman.

Under the careful and incredibly well-thought-out craft of the Spaniard. It would be difficult to see an Arsenal team that doesn’t involve Dowman as a key player, especially after seeing his work in the early stages of his career, already scoring three goals for the first team.

Although Arteta has not been cautious in using his youth players already this season, with three players making appearances for the Gunners in the EFL Cup win against Ipswich in early September, adding to the foundations they’re already building for their next generation, with seventeen-year-old Marli Salmon playing 90 minutes at Portman Road.

Whenever and wherever Arteta does end up after his new deal expires, one thing is already becoming increasingly certain: Arsenal will be set up to continue their great success for the long term. Mikel Arteta will go down as a legend of the club in doing so.