Mikel Arteta reacts to Arsene Wenger being inducted into Premier League Hall of Fame
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has been among the first to congratulate the club's legendary former boss Arsene Wenger for his induction into the Premier League Hall of Fame.
Arteta was a strong candidate to replace Wenger when the Frenchman's 22-year tenure at Arsenal was brought to an end in the summer of 2018. However, the Gunners plumped for the more experienced Unai Emery instead, before eventually hiring the former club captain in December 2019.
Three years into his spell at the helm, Arteta is ten games away from leading Arsenal to the club's first Premier League title since 2003/04 when Wenger steered them to an unbeaten season - they remain one of only two clubs to avoid defeat across an entire league campaign in the history of the English top flight alongside Preston North End from way back in 1888/89.
Wenger's long list of achievements - topped by that Invincibles season - earned the 73-year-old a spot alongside Manchester United icon Sir Alex Ferguson as the first two managers to become part of the Premier League Hall of Fame.
Arteta was the first to offer his praise to a manager who brought him to the club as a player in 2011.
“I had a dream to play for this club, and that was because of the way Arsenal played under Arsene,” Arteta told Arsenal's official website. “It was so attractive, I think every player wanted to play here! I had a phenomenal time with him, and I learnt a lot.
“That pushed me at the end of my career to become a coach, so he had a big influence on me. We had a conversation and I asked him what he would do in my position because I had doubts about whether to continue [playing] or start my journey as a coach.
“He helped me at the club and at the academy to do my badges, and he was an inspiration and always supportive. I think he inspired every player and every member of staff that has worked with him.”
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Wenger arrived in England after a season coaching in Japan - which inspired mocking comments from Ferguson at the time - and brought an array of training and dietary regimes which seemed futuristic compared to common practice in England.
“I think he took English football to a different level," Arteta explained, "...and challenged it to open its doors for many other foreigners to come and join the league to make it better.
“The way he spoke, what he transmitted as a coach, the way his teams played; I think he's been a phenomenal influence in world football. He had a vision that was much wider than any other manager had at the time. I think England and the Premier League have to be very grateful forever to this man."
Arsenal have been widely praised for sticking with Arteta through difficult moments during his reign but he is still some way off Wenger's two decades in charge.
“It is an incredible and difficult achievement to main that level of consistency," Arteta gushed, "in this league in particular. It’s a recipe that Sir Alex and Arsene have kept very quiet because no one else has done it, and I don’t know nowadays if it’s even possible to do it.
“To be constantly with the same people, same staff, same players and still have the capacity to every day come up with something new to inspire them, to keep them hungry, it’s extraordinary. It’s a very, very rare and special quality.”
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