Mikel Arteta

He is often noted as one of the best players of the 21st century to be denied a senior international cap.

After retiring, he was appointed as an assistant coach to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.

Mikel Arteta Amatriain (born 26 March 1982) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of club Arsenal.

During his debut season, Arteta won the Scottish Premier League and Scottish League Cup double, where he notably scored a 93rd-minute penalty against Dunfermline Athletic which secured the league title over rivals Celtic on goal difference.

Arteta left San Sebastián aged 15 in July 1997, with Antiguoko teammates Jon Alvarez and Mikel Yanguas, to trial with Barcelona's youth academy, La Masia.

The trio played three trial games and all earned professional contracts with the club.

Housed in dormitories, the academy lifestyle was notoriously strict and Arteta's Antiguoko teammates would soon leave the academy shortly after arrival.

Whilst at La Masia, Arteta grew up sandwiched between two budding club legends in Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez, he met then-Barcelona captain and his future coaching mentor Pep Guardiola during his time at the academy, while learning the practices of their then-head coach Louis van Gaal.

Arteta trained regularly with Van Gaal's first team but was limited only to appearances in Spain's Segunda División B with Barcelona B.

Born and raised in San Sebastián, Arteta began his senior club career at Barcelona in 1999, but limited playing time led to a loan to Paris Saint-Germain in 2001, aged 18.

After winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup during his second season in France, he then signed for Scottish club Rangers for a fee of £6 million.

Following Van Gaal's departure from the club on 20 May 2000, incoming coach Lorenzo Serra Ferrer brought Emmanuel Petit and Gerard Lopez into Barcelona's midfield, pushing Arteta further back into a queue which already included Guardiola, Luis Enrique, Phillip Cocu, Iván de la Peña, Xavi and Iniesta.

La Masia teammate Jofre Mateu believed that Arteta wouldn't make it at Barcelona purely because of his competition.

When discussing Arteta's development in an interview with The Athletic in 2023, Mateu explained, "Everyone knew he had a chance because of his quality but Xavi was extraordinary and Iniesta could play every position. I wasn't expecting him to be a Barcelona star because of the others."

With administrative changes in La Masia during the 2000−01 season, Arteta and a number of his club mates quickly learnt that their futures were no longer with Barcelona.

Midway through the 2000−01 season, Arteta went to French club Paris Saint-Germain on an 18-month loan.

He joined a star-studded team managed by Luis Fernandez, a team which included the likes of Mauricio Pochettino, Gabriel Heinze, Jay-Jay Okocha and Nicolas Anelka.

Arteta would also later play with Ronaldinho when the Brazilian moved to Paris in the summer of 2001.

He made his senior debut on 10 February 2001 against Auxerre in the round of 32 of the 2000−01 Coupe de France.

Arteta started the match at the Parc des Princes and played the entire game in which PSG lost 4−0.

On 17 February 2001, Arteta made his French Division 1 debut coming off the bench in the 34th minute for Vampeta in a 1−0 defeat against rivals Marseille, away at the Stade Vélodrome.

Arteta was used by Fernández primarily as a playmaker during his time in Paris, he played 11 games in his first season and he scored his first senior goal on 12 May 2001 against Lille.

During Arteta's second season with PSG, he won the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup in the summer, watching both two-legged final games against Brescia from the bench.

He played 53 games in total for PSG and scored five goals.

PSG wanted to keep Arteta at the end of the loan period, and did have first refusal on the player.

Instead, he returned to Barcelona after his loan spell.

Arteta signed for Scottish club Rangers in March 2002 in a £6 million transfer deal.

He enjoyed a successful first season in Glasgow and quickly established himself as a first-team regular.

Highlights were scoring on his Old Firm debut, and converting a late penalty on the final day of the 2002–03 season, which proved vital for goal difference as Rangers completed the domestic treble of the Scottish Premier League title, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup.

Arteta was injured shortly before the 2003 Scottish Cup final and missed the match.

Arteta started his second season with Rangers by scoring six goals in the first six games of the season as the club qualified for the Champions League group stages, although they did not qualify from that group and ended the campaign without a trophy.

Arteta returned to Spain after two seasons in Glasgow; he later credited his spell at Rangers as helping him develop as a player, stating "Scottish football was tough, really tough. It was really physical, people got at you and I had to improve on that a lot. I think I did that to get to the level that the Premier League required of me."

He joined Real Sociedad for €5.2 million in 2004 with the idea being that Arteta and Xabi Alonso could play together.

After a brief return to hometown club Real Sociedad, Arteta joined English club Everton on loan in 2005; he later signed permanently.

There, Arteta grew into a pivotal and influential player, winning Everton Player of the Season twice.

Signing for Arsenal in 2011 for a reported fee of £10 million, Arteta won two FA Cups and served as captain from 2014 until his retirement in 2016.

Arteta represented Spain through several youth levels, but never played for the senior national team.

In 2019, he returned to Arsenal as head coach and won the FA Cup in his first year; his title was changed to manager in September 2020 to reflect his broader remit at the club.

Born in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Arteta began his football career at Antiguoko and befriended fellow midfielder Xabi Alonso as they played together every weekend.

The two often played along the beaches and gutters of San Sebastián and dreamed of playing together at Real Sociedad.