Mikel Arteta admits there is ‘uncertainty’ over his future at Arsenal but insists this only ‘motivates him’ and ‘keeps him hungry to go again’ in the Premier League.
Arteta will soon enter the final year of his contract at Arsenal, where he spent five years as a player before returning as manager in 2019.
The Spaniard won the FA Cup in his first season at Arsenal but major trophies have eluded him since then despite the Gunners’ impressive performances in the last two Premier League campaigns.
Arsenal finished five points behind Manchester City in 2022-23 and just two points behind Pep Guardiola’s side last season.
Guardiola is expected to end his sensational spell at the Etihad next summer and Arteta accepts there is also ‘uncertainty’ over his future at Arsenal.
Asked whether he sees himself at Arsenal beyond the 2024-25 season, Arteta told CNN: ‘In football it’s about today and what we’re going to do today and what you hopefully can do tomorrow.
‘[In] this profession I think having this uncertainty is quite helpful. At least it motivates me, keeps me on my toes, and it keeps me hungry to go again.
‘I think we have a great relationship with everybody at the football club. I’m really happy where I am, and things will take care of themselves.’
Arteta plans to oversee another Premier League title challenge next season and says his squad are desperate to end Arsenal’s wait for a league title, which now stands at 21 years.
‘[We] will look to go again,’ Arteta said. ‘All the margins, squad-wise, the process that we have at the football club, our methodology, especially on how we can make our players better, more competitive, more consistent and cause them to raise the level and be better than the previous season.
‘I think our focus has to be with what we have already in house. “How can we be better?”
‘There are margins and there are players that can still develop and be better and that’s the objective that we have.
‘Every decision we’re going to make is to be better, without losing who we are and everything that is taking us in the position that we are now as a football club, as a team.
‘The ambition is there. The players, the staff. You can sense it. They want much more. They want to start lifting trophies and that’s the next step.’
Manchester City are the early favourites to win the Premier League, with Guardiola’s side clinching a record-breaking fourth successive title last season.
Asked if Arsenal can expect a drop-off from the reigning champions, Arteta added: ‘We have to better them. We are closer. When you see all the metrics we are right there. We’ve been the best team in the league in almost every metric.
‘But there is a margin there that somehow we didn’t control well enough and the league is gone and that’s the level.
‘It’s very challenging but it’s very inspiring to have a team with such a quality and such a consistency over the last seven, nine years, to try to be better than them. And our focus is, is how we can improve.’
