---
title: "Arsenal: Charlie Nicholas urges Gunners to hire Mikel Arteta as manager"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/arsenal-charlie-nicholas-urges-gunners-to-hire-mikel-arteta-as-manager/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Stephan Georgiou"
section: "Arsenal Football Club"
published: "2019-12-17T20:00:20Z"
modified: "2019-12-17T20:00:20Z"
---

# Arsenal: Charlie Nicholas urges Gunners to hire Mikel Arteta as manager

**Former Arsenal forward Charlie Nicholas has urged the Gunners to hire ex-captain Mikel Arteta as their new manager following reported talks with the Spaniard last weekend.**

Gunners officials were [reportedly](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50805721) in a meeting with the former midfielder recently over the possibility of him succeeding Unai Emery, who was [sacked](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/50532493) over a fortnight ago.

Speaking to [Sky Sports](https://www.skysports.com/football/news/15205/11888220/merse-says-arsenal-task-too-big-for-arteta) on Monday, Nicholas feels that Arteta’s existing ties to Arsenal and his experience of working alongside Pep Guardiola at Manchester City make him an ideal candidate to assume the role being kept warm by Freddie Ljungberg.

He said: “Finally, it looks as if there’s been decisions made, and there’s been a target.

“Obviously, Mikel Arteta has been a captain at the club, he knows how to lead the team. In my opinion, he’s worked under the best coach on the planet.

“And because of that – Pep Guardiola said yesterday he believes he’s ready to be a number one – let’s get the deal done. I would be very excited about the prospects of this.

“It will take him time, he will have seen first-hand how bad Arsenal are at the moment, how low they became, their confidence has drained, even the forward players don’t look exciting. The choice of team is all over the place.

“They’re a broken team, they’re a broken club at the moment, and someone has to repair it.”

Judging by Nicholas’ pitch for Arteta to be hired, if Arsenal were to call upon their former captain in the coming days or weeks, they may be admitting they got it totally wrong when hiring Unai Emery – supposedly [at the expense](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2018/may/15/mikel-arteta-favourite-to-become-arsenal-manager-replace-wenger) of the 37-year-old.

After all, Arteta could have boasted the same credentials that Nicholas highlighted at the time of the Gunners’ initial hiring process following Arsene Wenger’s departure in 2018.

Nevertheless, that is the situation Arsenal find themselves in, having slumped into [mid-table mediocrity](https://www.skysports.com/premier-league-table) after an abysmal run of league form that arguably preceded the start of the current campaign – with [six wins](https://uk.soccerway.com/teams/england/arsenal-fc/660/matches/) in their last 22 top-flight matches.

That may explain why Nicholas feels Arteta will need time, but considering his relative inexperience as a coach, perhaps the fact the Scot seems so upbeat suggests the future may be brighter under Arteta at Arsenal.

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