Recent links with Vinicius Junior have led many- both Arsenal fans and fans of other clubs- to question whether a manager like Mikel Arteta could tolerate a ‘maverick’ like Vinicius. In one sense, it is a reasonable question. Early in his reign, Arteta essentially ‘took on’ Mesut Ozil.
Freddie Ljungberg and Unai Emery had cause to do the same before him. Emery was too paralysed by indecision (he couldn’t even name a first team captain without Hamleting it to kingdom come), Ljungberg didn’t really have the authority as an interim, though he did drop Ozil for petulantly booting his chewing gum towards the dugout when Ljungberg subbed him.
The point is, Arteta took Ozil’s scalp, so to speak. Matteo Guendouzi, who doesn’t meet the criteria for a ‘star’ player, also felt the wrath of Arteta. Just over a year later, the manager banished Pierre Emerick Aubameyang to Barcelona. So it is reasonable to ask whether a manager who clearly prioritises standards and work ethic so highly could accommodate a star.
However, I find the question to be looking at the issue from the wrong angle. Firstly, Aubameyang, Ozil (and Guendouzi if you must) were not jettisoned because of a lack of work rate on the pitch. Arteta started Ozil for his first ten Premier League games in charge and Ozil played really well. It was after the enforced break for covid that Ozil found himself, first, on the bench and then entirely dropped from the squad.
He wasn’t dropped because of a lack of defensive rigour in possession. Neither was Aubameyang. Arteta played Aubameyang on the left-wing and then fought to secure him a new three-year contract at the age of 31 back in 2020. Aubameyang’s acrimonious exit entirely owed to off-pitch issues.
I also slightly bristle at the idea that Vinicius is some kind of lolloping layabout on the pitch. Neither the data nor the eye test really support this. Especially in big Champions League games for Madrid and international games for Brazil. In games against lesser opposition, I think it is fair to say he stays high up the pitch.
However, I think this is not due to a lack of willingness to muck in on Vinicius’ part, it’s merely based on a logical decision most elite coaches make. When you have genuine match winning attacking talent in your team, you don’t really want it on the edge of your own penalty area. You generally want elite final third players to stay in the final third.
During the World Cup, Carlo Ancelotti knew well that Vinicius was the best player in one of the most underwhelming Brazil teams in a generation. He essentially played a 442 with two ‘free’ strikers in Vinicius and Matheus Cunha. Ancelotti did not ask Vini to track back; he asked him to stay high up the pitch and had Lucas Paqueta tuck in behind him.
Ancelotti often did something similar with Madrid. Most coaches make these choices. Pep Guardiola is hardly known for his laissez-faire attitude to off-ball rigour but he happily gave Lionel Messi freedom and did not ask him to sprint after opposing wingers even in his peak years. Jurgen Klopp made his reputation as the godfather of gegenpressing.
But Klopp did not ask Salah to press like an absolute madman in the way, say, Roberto Firmino did. Going back nearly a century, Herbert Chapman used to treat Alex James differently to his other players. He overlooked his Scottish playmaker’s occasional habit of going out for a few brandies the night before a game. He overlooked his apparently casual approach to training too- because he was the player that made Chapman’s system work.
Most managers not only ‘tolerate’ star attackers conserving energy, most ask their star players to do this. Obviously, there are nuances and you can’t really grant that latitude to more than one player, as PSG discovered during their ill-advised ‘Messi, Neymar, Mbappe’ phase.
I also think people look at Arteta’s demands or philosophy through the wrong lens. A lot of this, in my view, is due to the memeification of football analysis. Stereotypes persist more than ever because even people ‘in the industry’ just spend far too much time online (aka ‘on Twitter’) and have started to absorb and internalise infantile yah-boo posting from teenagers and troll accounts.
While it is true that Arteta seriously prizes off-ball rigour (and rightly so, it has brought Arsenal to this point), I think the idea that he is some kind of militant, or hostage to the style we have seen from Arsenal in the last two seasons doesn’t stand up to any real scrutiny. Because we have seen the team play in a more helter skelter fashion under his leadership before.
I think the loss of Gabriel Jesus to terminal knee problems has been critical here. A striker like Jesus supports fluidity and risk in possession and his absence and subsequent decline has led to a change in tack. In the 2024-25 season, we really saw Bukayo Saka start to be given a very free role in attack with license to roam centrally. Look at this goal he scores in the Bernabeu in April 2025. He is not exactly glued to the right-wing in case David Alaba counters.
I think what Arteta has shown during his managerial career to date is that his style is defined by the talent available to him. He is a pragmatist in that respect and Arsenal’s elite talent has been largely behind the ball. You don’t sign attackers like Eberechi Eze, Noni Madueke and Viktor Gyokeres if you are obsessed by a lack of risk and improvisation.
Firstly, I don’t believe Vini Junior to be as much as a prima donna as I have seen a lot of people suggest. Secondly, I suspect Arteta will follow the model of every other elite coach and grant latitude to genuine game changing talent, which he hasn’t quite had in attack since he took over. (Saka was trending towards this level very nicely prior to his hamstring and achilles issues).
After the Champions League Final, Arteta’s words were instructive, ‘I want to congratulate PSG, Luis [Enrique] in particular, because in my opinion they’re the best team in the world. What they are able to do with the ball, with individual actions, I haven’t seen it.’ I think you can and should translate ‘I haven’t seen it,’ as ‘I want to see it in the team that I coach.’
