Arteta says Champions final defeat left a lasting scar

“Losing the Champions final left a scar on me; I have venom in my veins,” Mikel Arteta says. The Arsenal manager spoke to The Athletic after extending his long-term deal with the club until 2031. He looks back on his seven years in charge at the Emirates.

Arteta also sets out the ambition that drives his work: “To have the ambition to build the best team in the world.” He says he wanted to devote all his energy and knowledge to a collective project, with the aim of bringing the different parts of the club together. “I can’t do it alone,” he stresses, arguing that the work has to be done as a group.

The manager acknowledges that the early stages could have gone another way. Looking back, he believes his career might have been in jeopardy if nothing had changed. But he remains focused on the longer term: in his view, the team can still take another step and surpass the level it reached last season.

Fábregas also points to the patience Arsenal showed Arteta. “Seven years later, he got his reward,” he says. Arteta, for his part, presents the progress made as a stage rather than a destination: “This is only the beginning.” He says he wants to keep working with the group and believes the opportunity remains immense.