Mikel Arteta has never been under more pressure at Arsenal.
The Gunners finished Saturday rock bottom of the Premier League table after being hammered 5-0 away to Manchester City.
Arteta and Edu have spent £132 million on signings this summer – more than any other team in Europe’s top five leagues – and not only have they lost all three Premier League games so far, but they have conceded nine and scored zero.
Despite this form, the club’s former defender Lee Dixon has intimated that Kroenke Sports Entertainment may be planning to give the Spanish coach a minimum of two years to continue this project, based on the fact that all of their signings so far have been 23 or younger.
He told Stadium Astro: “The club look like they’re going down [a road] signing youth players. If that’s the case then that suggests to me that they [Arsenal’s hierarchy] are going to give Arteta time because these players aren’t going to turn it around tonight, next week or this season. It’ll take at least two years. Has he got two years? I would suggest they’re thinking yes, but ultimately there’s always a breaking point.”
Unthinkable
As of right now, the idea of Arteta still being Arsenal’s head coach by the year 2023 seems utterly unthinkable.
If the 39-year-old somehow contrives to oversee a defeat by newly-promoted Norwich City at the Emirates Stadium in two weeks after the international break then it’s difficult to see him surviving beyond that, let alone for another two years.
But unfortunately for the North Londoners and their fans, you really can’t rule out Arteta lasting longer than he should.
Given that he had zero experience with senior management to begin with, you could argue that the Kroenkes never should have hired him in the first place, and the fact that they did suggests that questionable decisions happen at the very highest level at Arsenal.
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