Going into Left-Handed Girl with the aftertaste of Anora's clean sweep still clinging to Sean Baker's name gave me a brief, involuntary flinch. But thankfully, the dissonance fades quickly. Taiwanese-American filmmaker and long-Baker collaborator
Mikel Arteta's Childhood Football Idol? 'Pep Guardiola Was My Hero Growing Up', Admits Gunners Boss
Mikel Arteta's Childhood Football Idol? 'Pep Guardiola Was My Hero Growing Up', Admits Gunners Boss
Mikel Arteta has never shied away from crediting the people who shaped him, but when he talks about Pep Guardiola, there's a different kind of warmth: the sort reserved for someone who didn't just influence your career, but rewired your footballing DNA.
When talking about his past with Sky Sports, the Arsenal boss gave his previous boss — and current Man City manager — Guardiola his flowers.
“When I was 15, he was my hero," Arteta says.
For a young impressionable Arteta, Pep wasn't just a player; he was a blueprint.
Fast-forward a couple of decades, and that teenage fan ended up sitting next to his idol in the Manchester City dugout.
“We ended up working together and having one of the best times of my life," Arteta recalls.
“If I'm sitting in the chair I'm sitting in today, it's thanks to him."
Arteta didn't just admire Guardiola's football; he was drawn to it.
“Probably how attached we were in terms of philosophy, and the way we were educated in Barcelona," he explains.
Both men grew up in an environment where the ball was sacred, space was currency, and positional play was a religion.
When City came calling, Arteta didn't hesitate — not even with zero coaching experience — and Guardiola handed him the keys to elite coaching education without asking for a resume, too.
“He gave me the choice — without coaching anybody — to go straight to his staff. One of the best decisions I made in my life."
And now? Arteta sits in the Arsenal hot seat (and on top of the Premier League table), crafting his own footballing identity.
Perhaps, heroes don't always stay on posters.
Source: News18
Related Posts: Mikel Arteta Backs Arsenal To Build On Mikel Arteta Hits Back At Bottlers Tag Following Arsenal's Wolves Stalemate Know how Theia’s collision shaped Earth and the Moon America's Next Top Model shaped reality TV Decoding Chennai’s Heart-Shaped Traffic Light Plane-shaped balloon with ‘PIA’ text in Urdu found in J&K's Rajouri Inside the permit rooms that shaped Chennai’s nightlife A look back at the events that shaped the world in 2025 How Scotland shaped Frankenstein on page and screen Young anacondas use surprising S-shaped gait to make quick escapes
Going into Left-Handed Girl with the aftertaste of Anora's clean sweep still clinging to Sean Baker's name gave me a brief, involuntary flinch. But thankfully, the dissonance fades quickly. Taiwanese-American filmmaker and long-Baker collaborator
3 months ago
