Albert Stuivenberg maybe isn’t a household name in football, but he’s showing his importance – to two different teams.
The Dutchman had a modest playing career, but was part of Louis van Gaal’s coaching staff at Manchester United before heading into management himself with Genk in 2016.
Despite only losing 10 of his 48 games in charge, Stuivenberg was fired in 2017, and Arsenal are now reaping the rewards.
Stuivenberg is Mikel Arteta’s assistant manager at the Emirates Stadium, playing a key role in the progress being made in North London.
Alongside his Gunners duties, Stuivenberg is also assistant manager for the Welsh national team, meaning he is regularly working with Tottenham trio Ben Davies, Joe Rodon and Gareth Bale – much to Jose Mourinho’s annoyance.
Stuivenberg could yet frustrate Spurs again; The Sheffield Star claim that Tottenham want to sign Sheffield United’s Sander Berge, and are being encouraged to big for the midfielder.
Arsenal have been making contact through an agent on Arteta’s behalf though, and Stuivenberg could be the key to winning the race.
Stuivenberg worked with Berge at Genk, hailing him as a ‘future leader’ because he is so intelligent, very mature and reads the game well.
Reuniting with Stuivenberg has to be appealing to Berge based off those comments, and Arteta can utilise his assistant as a not-so-secret weapon to beat Spurs this summer.
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