Mikel Arteta was just an 18-year-old boy in Barcelona’s La Masia academy when the phone call came. ‘You need to pack your bags and fly to Paris,’ he was told. ‘Now.’
It was January 2001, and joining Paris Saint-Germain on loan was a frightening prospect. He had not yet played professional football at senior level, having only appeared for Barca’s B side, talented though they were. He was shy by nature, reserved, respectful. He was not sure he was ready for such a step up. He even asked his agent at the time: ‘Are they sure?’
They were, because their manager was Luis Fernandez. A French football legend who played in midfield for PSG and the national team, he had been following Arteta’s progress on the academy scene for some time, and he had already noticed a certain pep in his step, shall we say.
‘I managed Athletic Bilbao,’ Fernandez, now 66, tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘There are two big Basque clubs in Spain – Athletic and Real Sociedad. I had the opportunity to see Mikel with Real Sociedad’s youth team and I wanted him to come to Athletic Bilbao, but it didn’t work out and he went to Barcelona. When I was at PSG, I asked for Mikel to be loaned to us.
‘He had great technical ability. I’ve always been a fan of Johan Cruyff as a coach, and he’s the one who invented the defensive midfield position; it was Pep Guardiola (at Cruyff’s Barcelona). Mikel had a bit of Pep Guardiola about him in his playing style, and he was a player I really liked.
‘When he arrived at PSG, he was a boy with a remarkable mindset and a remarkable upbringing. He was very discreet, very attentive, and got along very well with his team-mates. He was someone who worked with simplicity and humility, and he was focused on football.’
Mikel Arteta spent 18 formative months on loan at Paris Saint-Germain from 2001 to 2002
Now on Saturday he will attempt to secure the crowning achievement of his managerial career against his old club, with Arsenal in the Champions League final
PSG manager Luis Fernandez had known about Arteta for years as a youngster and specifically requested he join his side
Arteta’s 18 months on loan at PSG were formative, the 44-year-old Spaniard admitting today that they ‘ignited something in me to become a manager’ even at that tender age.
When revisiting his experiences there, the influence of this period is evident on his approach to managing Arsenal now, and it only makes Saturday’s Champions League final even more special for Arteta. His professional playing career started with PSG and, 25 years later, he can complete the ultimate coaching achievement by beating his old club in Budapest.
When he made that move from Barcelona to Paris at 18, a particularly cold winter was giving a grey feel to the French capital and his mother accompanied him as they lived out of a hotel which PSG’s former player liaison officer, Yves Ribardiere, recalls being rather ‘basic’.
Mauricio Pochettino was signed the same month as Arteta and, 10 years his senior, the Argentinian became like a ‘father’ to his younger team-mate. Pochettino was soon wearing the armband at PSG. Ask those who were there and you will hear how inseparable they were, the sight of Arteta picking his captain’s brains becoming a regular one on the Parisian training ground.
It helped Arteta that there were a few Spanish speakers in the squad while he was still learning the French language. Gabriel Heinze, also from Argentina, was one of those. Four years older, Heinze became a ‘big brother’ to Arteta, and he is now one of his assistant coaches at Arsenal.
Arteta was still new to being a professional player, after all, and Pochettino and Heinze were crucial in teaching him how to conduct himself, on and off the pitch.
It was someone else who taught him the value of good vibes. That was Ronaldinho. When the Brazilian arrived as a £5million signing from Gremio, he needed a room-mate, and Arteta was nominated. Arsenal’s manager likes to say Ronaldinho exuded such a positive energy that he made it impossible to be in a bad mood in his company. He is also liable to smirk if you ask whether Ronaldinho was a good roomie, given his reputation as a party animal.
The talent in this PSG squad was evident. As well as Ronaldinho, Pochettino and Heinze, there was Nicolas Anelka, Jay-Jay Okocha and Laurent Robert, among others.
Arteta was particularly close to Mauricio Pochettino at PSG and they would both go on to be Premier League managers
Gabriel Heinze was another PSG team-mate who would stay close to Arteta, joining his Arsenal coaching staff last summer and becoming a key driving force in the Premier League title win
When Ronaldinho arrived as a £5million signing from Gremio, he needed a room-mate, and Arteta was nominated
While Ronaldinho and Okocha brought the magic on the ball, Arteta often had to cover the gaps they were leaving off it, once joking he would turn around and see an ‘airport’ of space for him to try to fill.
Sometimes, sacrifices have to be made for your mavericks, and it hardly hampered PSG defensively. In 2001-02, they boasted the best defensive record in Ligue 1, conceding only 24 goals that season, though, regrettably, they still finished fourth. They triumphed in the 2001 Intertoto Cup, at least, shared with Aston Villa and Troyes.
While they may not have won as much as they would have liked together, Fernandez was a particularly special manager for Arteta. He did not hesitate in throwing him into the deep end, displaying a similar trust to the one Arteta has now shown in his own youngsters as manager of Arsenal – not least with Max Dowman, a Premier League winner at 16 years old.
It was within a month of arriving at PSG that Arteta made his debut in the Champions League against AC Milan at the San Siro, lining up in the tunnel opposite Paolo Maldini and Andriy Shevchenko, his world having changed in a remarkably short space of time.
Arteta knew deep down he had to leave his beloved Barca when PSG called. He had moved from San Sebastian to Barcelona at the age of 15, but there were so many majestical midfielders ahead of him in the pecking order, from Guardiola to Luis Enrique to Phillip Cocu to Xavi Hernandez to Emmanuel Petit, plus a few others pushing to be elevated from the B side like Andres Iniesta.
PSG were willing to give Arteta his chance; Fernandez providing that launching pad. His new team-mates have since admitted they privately wondered why they were signing such an unproven teenager, but that was before they had seen him in training – how he never had to go in the middle of the rondo for losing possession – and in matches, displaying a winning mentality and maturity beyond his years.
The truth is, though, that Arteta was not sure he was ready to play for PSG, either physically or mentally. But he learned what he will describe today as the ‘power of the manager’ – with Fernandez forcing him to think that he was.
It took just one private chat the day before a match in which Fernandez told Arteta he would be starting because he was the boss, he knew best, and he believed he could and would excel. Arteta cites this meeting as the one which made him feel like a professional player, there and then.
Arteta’s new team-mates have since admitted they privately wondered why they were signing such an unproven teenager, but that was before they had seen him in training
Rangers were so impressed with Arteta in a UEFA Cup tie against PSG that they paid £6m to sign him the next summer
Arteta’s 18 months on loan ‘ignited in me something to become a manager’
Fernandez is modest when discussing his influence on Arteta, first as a player and now as a coach, citing Guardiola as the real master who helped him reach where he is today.
‘I’m proud to see him succeed this year and in previous years,’ Fernandez, now working as a beIN pundit, tells Daily Mail Sport. ‘He learned from the best with Pep Guardiola. I’m proud to see him succeed at Arsenal after Arsene Wenger’s departure. He’s put all his enthusiasm and commitment into it, and he’s proving he has the ability to lead a team. He’s doing it perfectly.’
Arteta wanted to stay in Paris after his 18 months were through, and PSG wanted the same, but an agreement could not be struck with Barcelona. Instead, he joined Rangers for £6m, his first step into British football.
The story behind that move is intriguing in itself. Rangers faced PSG in the UEFA Cup’s third round in November 2001, and the Scottish club’s manager Dick Advocaat asked his chief scout, Ewan Chester, for a full report on the opposition. Within it, Chester wrote: ‘Young Arteta is their most influential player.’
PSG and Rangers played two goalless draws, with Advocaat’s side going through on penalties. Arteta scored his, as did Ronaldinho, but Okocha, Heinze and Pochettino missed theirs.
Nevertheless, Arteta left an impression on the opposition, enough to have them secure his signature from Barcelona, and with that, his Parisian adventure was over.
