Di way Santi Cazorla dey yarn am, dey laugh tire, Mikel Arteta fit be di worst pesin wey you fit ever wish to watch match with. And na why im know say im friend go be coach and why im tell am make im go become one, convinced say great things dey come.
When we dey injured for Arsenal, we dey meet for house to watch game, and im go grab di remote and pause am, Cazorla recall. I go say: ‘I see paused screen.’ So Arteta go explain. ‘You no think say dis player dey badly positioned?’ Cazorla continue, still cracking up. Im don be coach already. All game, every game: pausing, rewinding. Di match don finish and we only dey for 35th minute. But I no see am. I love football, I fit watch am all day, but I no notice those things. Mikel dey do am.
Born for Gipuzkoa, di smallest province for Spain and an outlier wey dey produce plenty elite managers wey fit invite investigation, Arteta always be a bit different; everybody dey talk so. Which no mean say those wey share im first steps see wetin Cazorla see, still less di coach wey lead Arsenal go Champions League final. Fond though dem be, and there be warmth for every word, most no see a coach just yet, but dem see something. Not talent exactly, although dat too, but something else a little deeper, lasting.
‘Mikel catch your attention very young,’ Jon Ayerbe talk. ‘Di word I go use na alive; you see am for im eyes. Im grasp everything fast, get character and na so competitive. Give am di ball, im go find solution.’ Above all, im be di most intelligent, Álvaro Parra add. Mikel Yanguas talk: ‘You look at am and think: “Bloody hell, im get something special.”‘ Ayerbe, Parra and Yanguas play with Arteta for Antiguoko, a youth club for San Sebastián wey take on professional academies and win.
Arteta bin good enough for tennis to pursue different path, im father make am choose im sport, and Antiguoko former coach Roberto Montiel dey enjoy recount Arteta goal against Real Sociedad, all cheek and technique, wey remind am of Lionel Messi. Arteta be two-footed and tiny then, a No 10 wey later become No 4, and ‘a born sportsman,’ Montiel talk. Im dey dedicated and smart too. ‘Im always clear say im go make am and sacrifice im life for am,’ Parra talk. ‘Im go Barcelona, leave everything behind.’
At 14, Arteta don begin train for Athletic Club, 100km west along AP-8. There, one of im coaches na di future Athletic, Eibar, Sevilla and Olympiakos manager José Luis Mendilibar, wey strike by dis kid wey never lose ball and always play with clarity and sense. ‘Wetin you fit imagine, thinking about am now, na say someone with dat intelligence and understanding go also develop ability to explain am to others, so dem fit understand too,’ Mendilibar write later.
Dat sentiment dey echoed by Luis Fernández, di coach wey sign 18-year-old Arteta for Paris Saint-Germain for 2001. ‘When you tell am wetin you want, im do am first time,’ Fernández talk. By then, Barcelona don shape am too, di first formative experience away from home. ‘Na 1997,’ Yanguas recall. ‘Somebody see us representing Gipuzkoa for Easter tournament and invite us to trial for Barcelona. We stay near Pedralbes and at di end dem say yes to di three of us: me, Mikel and Jon Álvarez.’
Dem move into La Masia, di traditional Catalan farmhouse alongside Camp Nou wey be Barcelona spiritual home and an actual home to 32 boys aged 11 to 18, three or four of whom be basketball players. Andrés Iniesta, Carles Puyol and Iván de la Peña be among dem. Pepe Reina go become one of Arteta closest friends. Each dorm get four bunks, a couple of camp beds sometimes squeeze in too. Through di window dem fit see di pitch where Bobby Robson team train. Well, part of am: a screen cover half.
‘Na just us, di cooks, di security guard and one guy wey dey oversee everything,’ talk Roberto Trashorras, wey become close to Arteta. ‘E dey totally different nowadays. We sort things out among ourselves. Because we dey alone, we look after each other. There be no mobiles. I remember queueing at midnight to ring home from payphone, Puyol and De la Peña ahead of me. We be teenagers, so there go be di usual messing about: jokes, water bombs.’
A bus take dem to school – parents choose between three options – dem go train and then … well, not much, Yanguas talk. ‘We go go [di department store] El Corte Inglés; we be from San Sebastián, a small city, and we no get El Corte Inglés there. Or we go go cinema. I remember seeing Titanic with Mikel, Victor Valdés, Fernando Macedo.’ Dem be 15 and, looking back, Yanguas admit im no ready. Although dat cadete (under-16) team be national champions, im return to San Sebastián at di end of first year. ‘E hard for me,’ im talk. ‘I think about am now and I be an introvert. Mikel be different, better prepared: more outgoing, more adaptable, better at relating. Maybe inside im dey struggle but we see somebody wey handle am very well.’
On di pitch too: im go demand di ball. ‘I think e natural then but I coach now and realise e no be. Nobody offer, nobody ask for di ball. Mikel dey do am constantly.’ Jofre Mateu be two years older than Arteta, with whom im go play for di B team, and don already make first-team appearance. ‘Mikel used to laugh about my hair. Im talk I get “bull hair”: so hard and e no move. Jofre laugh. ‘E be three metres, impossible to crash. Impossible. Im put im arm on di window, look back to reverse, but im dey put am for first. Yeah, I think you need more lessons. Which raise obvious question: you dey stupid? Totally,’ Jofre talk. But, actually, handing over di keys no be risk: if anything define Arteta, im talk, na how sensible im be. ‘Im no dey there to piss about, im dey there to do di right thing,’ Jofre talk.
In fact, another scene define Arteta better. ‘Thiago Motta be hot-headed and for training session im get fight, wey no be unusual,’ Jofre talk. ‘I remember am because Mikel no really get di “weight” to do dat. E go be like Marc Bernal standing up to, say, Gavi now. Im no do am for ugly way, but im do am. Clearly, firmly. And we just all stop.’
La Masia be a footballing education, entirely new. ‘Di players wey arrive be di best for dem teams but Barcelona make you think about tactics, space for way wey no be normal,’ talk Luis Carrión, a Barcelona B teammate. ‘For Antiguoko, Mikel go get di ball all di time; here im get to wait, occupy di right space. By standing still, you see solution, a way out.’ Trashorras talk: ‘Mikel be a dribbler, arriving for di area, but im learn to play one, two touches, no lose im position. Yeah, but, e just there, I fit …’ ‘No, no, no. E fit hard to adapt but Mikel be sharp. E really, genuinely different. Pffff, e like religion.’
No be say Barcelona creed be Arteta only faith. There be simple reason why im no make am for Catalonia, or two of dem – Xavi Hernández and Iniesta – but there be world out there, ideas and character shape across four countries, experiences for Spain, France, Scotland and England. ‘When I become PSG coach I ask for Mikel because I watch am for di juvenil [under-19s],’ Fernández talk. ‘I follow Johan Cruyff ideas, di importance of di pivot, love Pep Guardiola and want player of dat type. For di pitch you see Mikel intelligence, im understanding and, for sure, dat come out later when im become coach. Im get di perfect attitude to coach: professionalism. Im dey responsible, listen, learn and you no need to keep tell am. Im be example for everybody. I admire am. I dey sensitive and when I see am and Gabi [Heinze], im very good friend for Paris, e make me so happy. I think im learn with Pep. E just get to come out.’
‘Im be kid with personality: polite, very professional for im age,’ Carrión talk. ‘A coach? You never know, but im watch plenty football.’ With time, Yanguas suggest, you learn to express, understand and analyse di spaces you see naturally, and Arteta always see those. Focus and passion come as standard. Jofre, ask if im see coach for Arteta, reply: ‘Zero. But if you ask me about Xavi, I go say zero. Luis Enrique, zero. Guardiola … OK, yes. For part because Pep see am.’ And so, via Paris, Glasgow and Liverpool to Santi sofa for London, an offer and a new era, di other Arteta wey always dey inside somewhere.
‘We confide for each other; im be di captain, always look after me and my family and help so much during my injury,’ Cazorla recall. ‘Im talk: “Wetin I do, Santi? E be difficult step.” But I be sure e go work. I go watch am pausing games and think: dis guy don be coach already. And im go talk: “Yeah, I see things wey make me think I suppose be a coach.”‘
