Mikel Arteta, a Spanish magician. Summing up his first season in red and white!

Last summer the transfer window was an absolute nightmare, and us Arsenal fans really suffered as a result of that, we saw arguably 2 of our most important players from the previous season leave the club and many fans were feeling disillusioned with the way they felt the club was going and labelled the club a "selling club". Replacing these players was never going to be an easy feat, and the players that the club did eventually bring in at the end of the transfer window attempted to dispel suggestions that they had been bought in as "direct replacements" for Fabregas and Nasri, but we all were aware of the fact that they had to step up and have a similar impact if we were to be successful as a team. One of these players was Mr Mikel Arteta, who arrived at the club on deadline day from Everton for around 10 million pounds. I remember watching his first interview as an Arsenal player where he said that he was NOT here to replace Fabregas and I couldn't help but think that he was the only player that could even come close to replacing the skill set that Cesc has and showed in an Arsenal shirt. However Mikel has since admitted that he did feel pressure to fill Cesc's boots at Arsenal and make an impact. He explained that he was a different player but that he was at the club to "help the team get better", and it is this kind of attitude from Arteta that I really admire: his selflessness. Fortunately Mikel has had a big impact on the team and the squad as a whole this season, and his performance on Sunday against Manchester City really summed this up.

Arteta was a player who we knew well from his time at Everton in the Premier League but I think that is fair to say that lots of people didn't think that he could make the transition into the Arsenal team and that he wasn't good enough to make an impact on the team. However I have to say that when I heard on deadline day that there was a possibility we could sign him, I was excited because I always rated him as a player and was very keen for us to sign him a number of years back when many people would have argued he was at his best. I remember a few years back in an interview before an Everton game Cesc talked about how highly he rated Arteta and how highly rated he was at the Barcelona academy. The disappointing thing for me has been that Arteta never got a move to a bigger club sooner in his career because he has flourished at Arsenal this season with our style of play, he has been absolutely magnificent, and he is just so consistent. He never really got an opportunity in his career before now to play the style of football that we do, which is why I have been surprised as to how easily he has fitted in playing our style, but then a man who was in the Barcelona academy you would expect to be good at passing the ball! And that he is, as I will now discuss!

His passing this season has been superb, he is one of the highest passers of the ball in Europe, in terms of number of passes completed and he is just so calm on the ball. This side of his game, I believe has been a key thing for us this season, and this was evident when he was injured for a period in January especially away at Swansea at the Liberty Stadium. If you remember Aaron Ramsey had a bit of a shocker, and this was partly down in my opinion to the fact that he did not have Arteta alongside him to be that calming influence, to just give him the ball and he will get it out trouble quickly, he just keeps the game moving, nothing fancy he just keeps it ticking over! In this game against Swansea, Aaron Ramsey looked lost and outnumbered for large parts of the game and I believe that had Arteta been fit and alongside him we would have done a lot better, because his (Arteta's) ability to just get the ball moving, keeping out of trouble, is superb and Ramsey definitely missed this in the game against Swansea. When Arteta is in the team it is no coincidence that the passing seems more slick and there are a lot less unsuccessful/ uncompleted passes, he has been a pass master this season for The Arsenal, and against Sunderland at the Stadium of light he completed an incredible 100 passes, and as I mentioned many of these passes were nothing fancy but he just has the ability like other Spanish central midfielders (e.g. Xavi) to just keep the ball moving, keeping the game ticking over, and in his position in our team as quite a deep lying midfielder he has been able to really dictate our play, and he's been absolutely brilliant at it! On Sunday against Manchester City he showed once again what a brilliant player he is. His passing was flawless and his ability to keep the play moving was very much evident.

But it hasn't just been his ability to pass the ball and dictate play that has been impressive this season from Arteta, his ability to find the target has also been very impressive. As I mentioned before I have been surprised how much his passing has shown since his arrival, but his ability to shoot from range hasn't surprised me because this is an attribute that we saw on a number of occasions during his time at Everton. His goal against Manchester United at Goodison Park in stoppage time was one sticks in my mind where he struck the ball hard from distance which rocked into the middle of the net, and also remember a great goal against Merseyside rivals Liverpool where again he struck from distance. Therefore it has been no surprise that he has scored all of his goals for Arsenal from outside of the box and he has been very productive for us from outside the box this season. His free kick against Aston Villa and his goal on Sunday against Manchester City stick in my mind but another goal I really liked was his hit against Blackburn at Ewood Park, his first Arsenal goal. It was a lovely calm curved shot into the roof of the net, hit first time on the edge of the box from an Aaron Ramsey cut back.

All in all it has been an excellent debut season at The Emirates for the little Spaniard he has been superb on the ball, his goal tally is good and his overall leadership coupled with his experience of playing in the UK with Everton and Rangers I believe has played a huge role in our revival this season especially in recent months and this was outlined by his selection of skipper in the FA Cup victory against Leeds in January. He has been in my opinion certainly the best signing of the summer from Arsenal dealings definately, however I also rate Gervinho, Mertesacker,, Santos and the Ox very highly, and I believe that in the end the players we bought in, alb eight being rather late in the day as far as the summer transfer window was concerned, have all been pretty good buys. But as I say Mikel Arteta is the standout one, I was excited when we signed him because I always thought he was a talented player who would suit our game, but the way he has suited the team and the way he has performed has been a surprise as well, and he is definitely a candidate for player of the season, however I think that is already nailed on, and rightly so, to Mr Robin Van Persie due to his exceptional performances and captaincy of the side. Nonetheless Arteta has been extremely impressive and I have loved him being part of our side!

 

COME ON YOU REDS!

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