Arteta on success demanding academy talent and trophies (Full Presser part two)

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on success demanding academy talent and trophies  02/05/2025  Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK

Transcript

00:00I think to give a generic answer is very difficult.

00:25I think there are cases, you know, they know that many, you know,

00:28you mentioned three in Europe, we have two, so it's very, very rare.

00:34But when I'm talking about Max as well,

00:36it's now he's involved in the squad, he's trained with us a lot,

00:39it doesn't mean that he's going to play in the Premier League many games.

00:42I don't know, depending how good he is, how impressive he is,

00:45how much he offers the team, like Ethan, like Miles,

00:47like any other player in the squad.

00:49Do you think he could be that special case,

00:51like Ethan and Myles were in?

00:54I think he's in the right pathway and I think everybody at the Academy

00:56has done an incredible job to constantly, you know, protect him,

01:01inspire him, challenge him, keep him always up

01:05and at the levels that he could produce and he's doing really well.

01:10I think he's doing the right steps and take it slowly.

01:14I think he will dictate how fast we go.

01:16How much do you speak to him and when you speak to him,

01:18do you still feel like you're speaking to a very young person

01:21or do you see that he's mature and not just on one person as well?

01:26Well, you need to understand his age and the way you talk

01:29and communicate with him, but if you're looking from far

01:33and you don't know that he's 15 and you see sets of things that he does,

01:36if you have to judge him on that,

01:39you wouldn't treat him any different to any other player.

01:41Yeah, I was going to ask you one about Tom's pass.

01:51Obviously you missed him the other night,

01:53do you think you should show how important it is to him

01:56the other night if not being there?

01:59Yeah, it is very important.

02:01Obviously, it's a starter for us and he's the player that's played

02:03most minutes in the position and obviously for the biggest game of the season,

02:07we didn't have him, but I think Declan did a great job playing in there

02:13and we had other qualities in midfield and now we have him back,

02:16so more options.

02:17Are you thinking of rotating quite a bit

02:20or do you think it's going to be more important for the players

02:23to have that consistency of playing games?

02:26Let's see how everybody's tomorrow because today as well

02:29we still had some niggles and issues with a few players,

02:33so assess the squad well and we'll decide tomorrow.

02:36With Max there, you obviously spoke well,

02:41you said it a few times this season,

02:43could he be content to submit the pre-season squad at all this season?

02:46Who's that, Max?

02:48Yeah, we'll discuss at the end of the season

02:50and talk to Per, the academy coaches as well and him and his environment

02:55about how we're going to now create a development plan from next season

02:59like we do with any other player at the club

03:02and take the right steps, hopefully.

03:05In the Champions League, you've been very much big on the atmosphere

03:08and pumping up, especially at the Emirates at home,

03:11to get the fans behind the players.

03:13Obviously, after the PSG game, a few rival fans were making a bit mockery

03:18about the Tifos ahead of the game.

03:20What did you make of all that?

03:21Did you have any influence on the players or the Tifos?

03:24No, I just try to focus on and do everything that I can from my side,

03:30whether it is with the club or myself,

03:32to try to promote the best possible behaviours, atmosphere and energy

03:36to give the best support to the players

03:38because that would mean the best chance to win the game and perform.

03:42Apart from that, it has nothing to do with me.

03:43What did you make of the atmosphere on the last game in this game?

03:48Was it your expectations?

03:50It was, I mean, you can never try to replicate how it was against Madrid

03:56because it was like this, especially because the scoreline, the context

04:00and the manner that it happened, it was different after three and a half minutes,

04:04four minutes, you can see the goal and it is different,

04:06but I think it is an own analysis.

04:09I prefer to live with that.

04:11Okay, last couple of minutes.

04:12Gary?

04:13I think Gary said a couple of times this season about

04:16with miles and people coming through,

04:18it sort of shaped what you're doing in the transfer.

04:21You're thinking generally, now you've got Max coming into that equation.

04:25What's the balance of that between bringing them through

04:29and then winning trades?

04:31You obviously, at the time when Arsenal bring kids through,

04:34the criticism of what the kids could be living in trading,

04:36but the spirit of players, but what's your balance in that situation

04:39on the manager to kind of get that?

04:41That you're never going to get it right

04:43unless you bring academy players and win trophies.

04:46If you don't do those two things at the same time,

04:48you're never going to win.

04:49If you win something, yeah, but you don't have academy players,

04:52you'll spend a lot of money.

04:53If you are academy players, you don't win,

04:54you have to spend the money because academy players are not good enough.

04:57So both things together, we are in business.

05:00What do you feel about?

05:04I love the trophies and I love working with young players,

05:17especially the ones that have been throughout academy, our system,

05:22and see them play because I think that's a dream for any football club.

05:25So the first thing that we do is, what do we have in the academy?

05:28Can we look at them, can we promote them, can we make them the lead players

05:32that we're going to need to win trophies?

05:33Do they have this mentality?

05:35And then go because that's always a challenge.

05:38An academy player sometimes has a different mindset,

05:43different perspective of what he needs to do when he arrives to the first team.

05:46Because when you come from the academy to the first level,

05:48what do you want?

05:51And now I want to get set in the first team, going to the dressing room.

05:54Once you're in the dressing room, can I play a little bit?

05:57Once you play a little bit is, can I be a starter now?

06:00When you do a starter, can I have a new contract and earn my money?

06:03Once you have that is, can I now be more consistent and be a starter?

06:09And throughout that period, these three, four, five years,

06:11are you thinking about winning football matches and actually winning trophies,

06:15if you're thinking about your own steps, that's the very important mindset

06:20to go with the question that you mentioned before.

06:22Academy players that want to win, not to raise themselves

06:25or develop themselves to win for the club.

06:27That's it.

06:28What you're saying on that is when you see some of these young players come through,

06:31they go like that, and then suddenly there's a plateau

06:34or they go down because they don't get that consistency.

06:36It's harder than the second season season.

06:38How would you, what's the process for you to kind of help them?

06:44Because actually their challenge is going to come next year, not this year.

06:48Well, this year as well, you know, there are.

06:50But I mean, and the career of any football player normally is not linear up, you know.

06:55Even if we get by the best talent in Portugal for 50, 60 million,

06:59he comes here, maybe has three wonderful months,

07:02and then he has a drop for two or three months, and then there,

07:04and that's part of the game.

07:07That's funny.

07:08You mentioned earlier on that the most important thing,

07:10and the number one thing was not getting players sent off with 11 players.

07:15That's both really important.

07:16Why did you put that as number one?

07:19Sorry, then I didn't explain myself well.

07:20I said two things, two ingredients.

07:22Play with 11 players and have high availability of the squad,

07:26and especially the top players that win your matches.

07:28Both together.

07:29Together.

07:30Has the number one, or the first one, the red card,

07:34has that been sorted out for the team?

07:37I hope that, well, it's been because the rules at the beginning of the season

07:40were punished, and after 15 games were very different.

07:44So they resolved them.

07:45So hopefully next season we'll have some new rules for some games

07:50and then change them again.

07:52That would be great, if possible.

07:54Especially for all the teams, the same rules, at least.

07:58Would B.A.R. anything for that?

07:59No, well, hopefully not.

08:01OK.

08:02Yeah?

08:03Thanks, man.

08:04Good luck tomorrow on Tuesday.

08:05Thank you very much.

08:06Thank you, guys.

08:07Wednesday.

08:08Wednesday, yeah.

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