Mikel Arteta once boldly locked his Arsenal team-mates in the dressing room as a player – something Theo Walcott claims “will always stick with me”.
Arteta signed for Arsenal from Everton on transfer deadline day in the summer of 2011. He was brought in by Arsene Wenger to aid the team’s young squad, including Walcott, with his valuable experience – and Arteta made a huge impact in north London until his retirement in 2016.
Now Arsenal’s manager, the Spaniard is considered one of the sharpest minds in football, spearheading back-to-back Premier League title challenges. But Walcott can pinpoint the exact standout moment where Arteta displayed his talent for coaching for the first time.
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The ex-Gunners forward revealed that Arteta, in an effort to galvanise his fellow players, took it upon himself to lock the players in the dressing room before training without the permission of at-the-time manager Wenger on one occasion. And Walcott could see then that Arteta would go on to become a top manager.
Speaking on Up Front with Simon Jordan on William Hill’s podcast, the 35-year-old said: “The turning point I remember in my experience with Mikel was when he was a player. Hindsight’s a great thing but the turning point for me was when we weren’t making top four at the time.
“We had training in 30 minutes. Mikel literally locked the dressing room – players only. It’s like he was saying ‘I’m taking control of this whole space. I’m going to say it how it is. It’s an open room if anyone else wants to speak’.
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“It will always stick with me, it was like he was the manager there in that moment. I was thinking ‘this guy could be a manager – I’d love to play for this guy’.
“We made top four that year and it was that one particular speech. Arsene was outside waiting for us to train and we weren’t out there because Mikel stopped training. That’s how strong of a character he was. Even Arsene was afraid of him.”
Walcott went on to add: “He was sick of peace and quiet and being too nice. He wanted people to say truths in a safe environment. It worked.”
Arsenal continued to secure top-four finishes until Arteta’s departure. They would not return to playing Champions League football until 2023 when he had returned as a manager.
The former Everton captain was immediately snapped up by Pep Guardiola as his assistant once he retired, quickly rising through the ranks of Manchester City’s coaching staff. He took on the Arsenal role – his first managerial job – when the club was at rock bottom mid-way through the Unai Emery-led 2019/2020 season and has since turned them into perennial title challengers again.