After leaving the Emirates Stadium dugout, Unai Emery was persuaded to share some of his knowledge with incoming Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta.
Unai Emery took over the Arsenal job in May 2018, replacing the long-serving Arsene Wenger.
Things started relatively well for the Spanish coach at the Emirates Stadium, although the Gunners missed out on Champions League qualification in his first season.
However, Arsenal lost form under Emery in his second campaign, and he was sacked in November. After a brief interim spell with Freddie Ljungberg at the helm, Mikel Arteta was given the top job in December 2019.
Parallels between Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta at Arsenal
It was the former midfielder’s first ever management job, and like Emery, he started well. Arteta led Arsenal to an FA Cup triumph after just a few months in the job.
Mirroring Emery’s Arsenal experience further, Arteta struggled in his second season, leading the club to an eighth-place finish in the Premier League. On this occasion, though, the board stuck by their man and kept faith in the manager. Sporing director Edu has since explained why Arsenal didn’t consider sacking Arteta.
Arteta has now justified the Arsenal board’s faith in him. He has gradually turned the Gunners back into genuine title contenders, and energised the fanbase. Arteta has transformed Arsenal.
There is a chance, though, that Arteta’s good start to life in the job owed plenty to Emery. Respected journalist Guillem Balague has now revealed that he convinced Emery to share information about the club with the incoming coach.
How Unai Emery was convinced to share Arsenal insight with Mikel Arteta
Speaking to DR Sports, Balague said: “When Unai left Arsenal and Mikel Arteta was taking over, I was having lunch with Unai and said ‘why don’t you call Mikel? And you share things of how it went for you?’ [Emery said:] ‘people don’t tend to do it because you want to make your own mind about what’s there.’ But there is a lot of privileged information you can share. So I went [dials phone], ‘Mikel, Unai.’ [Mimes handing over phone] Boom, and they were talking for an hour.”
It makes total sense, that having just left the club, that Emery could have armed Arteta with a great deal of useful information. The current Aston Villa manager would have had an intimate knowledge of the existing problems within the club, areas of concern and strength, and the nature of dressing room relationships. He deserves credit for being willing to share his insight and the benefit of his experiences with Arteta.
Arteta may well have used what he learned from Emery to tailor his approach to the job in his early weeks in the role.