If we are to name the five best clubs in the Premier League, Arsenal would be on the list for sure. This is not their long history with the English top-flight League but their devoted and enormous fan base, which we see occupying the stadium often, their solid financial backing, their fantastic youth program, and their fantastic managers. Not much can be said about the first three points, but the last one can become our topic of debate for today’s article on Mikel Arteta Biography.
We were accustomed to watching Arsene Wenger supporting his players and advising Arsenal on the best formations and tactics for years.
But now those days are over and someone new is leading Arsenal. It would be fair to say that Mikel Arteta is doing a great job, since for the 2022-23 stats, he has managed to maintain amazing numbers with the team, leading it to a high, if not the top, finish of the league.
Since there is a strong probability that Mikel would break the title drought of Arsenal this year, we thought it would be a great idea to prepare a Mikel Arteta Biography.
A unique version of Mikel Arteta Biography
This article would be the one you need to fully understand Mikel Arteta Biography, since we have gathered all there is to his life story and personal life, from the beginning of his life to the current days of coaching Arsenal to new heights.
Mikel Arteta introduction
Before we get to the main parts of the article here are a few Mikel Arteta stats, we think you should know before starting to read his biography.
- Name: Mikel Arteta Amatriain
- Age: 41
- Height: 1.75 m
- Nationality: Spanish
- Team: Arsenal
- Position: Manager
Now that you have brushed up all your knowledge about this legendary coach, here comes Mikel Arteta biography with full details.
Mikel Arteta childhood
Mikel Arteta real name is Mikel Arteta Amatriain. San Sebastián is where Arteta’s mysterious parents gave birth to him. We don’t have much information about Mikel Arteta’s parents and he also doesn’t talk about them in his interviews.
His birthday is March 26, 1982. His hometown is in one of Spain’s most picturesque locations, along the Bay of Biscay coast.
Growing up in San Sebastián, Arteta experienced a rare health condition that resulted in a lack of clean blood reaching his heart. He was also growing a deep love for football at the same time. Was he about to lose his dreams because of his illness?
This was when his mother came to rescue his dreams. Even as a young child, Arteta had a heart illness, yet he persisted in his desire to play football. Now, bear with us as this is were Mikel Arteta life story gets interesting.
His mother had to take him through various medical tests because of his love for the game to make sure that his health condition wouldn’t put him in danger if he decided to play football. Following the test results, doctors advised him to have an operation that would prevent him from engaging in any strenuous athletic activity going forward.
According to Arteta, he was the first person in Spain to require that particular procedure. When he was seven years old, his parents planned the surgery with the medical staff, and fortunately, everything went as planned.
Doctors recommended he have checkups every three months after the surgery since they knew he would continue to play football despite his disadvantage. His heart, though, didn’t cause him any further issues. The scar from the operation is still visible on his chest today.
Mikel enters football
As you may know, one of Arteta’s closest friends is Xabi Alonso. How did they meet? Well, to explain it we should return to the prime days of Mikel Arteta biography.
Arteta started playing football at Antiguoko, where he made friends with Xabi Alonso, a fellow midfielder since they played together every weekend. They frequently played together in San Sebastián’s gutters and on the city’s beaches, and they fantasized about doing so at Real Sociedad.
But our protagonist’s story took a huge leap when Arteta departed San Sebastián at the age of 15 in July 1997 for a trial with Barcelona’s renowned La Masia development program. After participating in three trial matches, he was offered professional contracts by the club.
Arteta’s Antiguoko teammates that came with him would eventually quit the academy shortly after arriving because of the notoriously harsh culture of the academy, where students had to stay at the academy and lived in dorms.
Arteta met Pep Guardiola while he was a player at the Barcelona Academy and was studying the methods of their then-head coach Louis van Gaal. Arteta grew up at La Masia between two future club icons, Andrés Iniesta and Xavi Hernández.
Mikel was never selected for the A team, but he was able to train with them and pick up some useful techniques and talents that would later be useful. He was simply being pushed back day after day because of the team’s intense competition and Barcelona’s remarkable signings.
Eventually, he acknowledged that his failure to see a future with Barcelona prompted him to leave the team.
Senior career
Arteta’s 18-month loan at Paris Saint-Germain turned out to be a blessing in disguise. He finally got to make his debut for a major club’s first team. On February 10, 2001, against Auxerre, he made his senior debut for the team Luis Fernandez coached. He played 53 games in all for PSG during his time there and netted five goals.
He subsequently began switching clubs, most notably from PSG to Rangers and then to Real Sociedad, before settling down in the Premier League. Arteta was warmly welcomed by Everton, and he made up for it by being inventive and productive in every game. He stayed with the team for six years.
Mikel seems almost destined to be always present in the Emirates stadium. After leaving Everton, Arteta signed a four-year contract with Arsenal on August 31, 2011, reportedly for a sum of £10 million. He was named the team’s captain after a season and following the departure of Robin van Persie.
He enjoyed five illustrious years with the Gunners during which he gained respect on the field.
On the final day of the season, he played his last game for Arsenal. Arteta entered the game as a replacement, and when Mark Bunn’s shot hit the crossbar, he was forced to score an own goal for Aston Villa. In the end, the audience gave him a standing ovation.
International career
Mikel regrettably never had the opportunity to compete at the senior level for his country’s squad. He came close to making his professional debut, but an injury kept him from taking the field while wearing the Spanish national jersey.
Arteta was a young international for Spain. He participated in the winning 1999 UEFA European Under-16 Championship team, the 1999 UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup, the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship, and the 2004 U21 European Championships qualifying campaign as team captain.
The English FA and Fabio Capello made attempts in 2010 to explore if Arteta could represent England since they thought he qualified under FIFA’s five-year residency rule. However, FIFA disproved this, and Arteta claimed in a 2016 interview that he “almost went to war with FIFA” over the decision.
When Spain’s team list was revealed in February 2009, Arteta’s name had already been crossed off the roster due to a torn cruciate knee ligament.
Arteta played at a time when Spain had several really high-quality players available in his position. He is frequently regarded as one of the best players in modern times to have gone without a senior international cap.
Coaching career
Now this is the section that makes Mikel Arteta biography interesting. Arteta had a few options to choose from upon his time of retirement. He could join Tottenham’s backroom staff, Arsenal academy coaching staff, or Manchester City to serve as an intern assistant to Pep Guardiola.
Since Arteta was already familiar with Pep, following their days in Barcelona Academy, he chose that it would best suit him to become a senior team coach and learn the basics from his old friend. Guardiola also believed that Arteta would make a fine coach, that’s why he convinced Arteta to join him.
He spent a few years beside Pep, until eventually taking control of the Gunners after Unai Emery’s departure. He has achieved a few important awards and trophies about which we would talk later in Mikel Arteta biography.
Currently, his team is aiming for the League Title for the 2022-23 season, and we hope to see him lift the cup and end the title drought once and for all.
Love life
You are probably thinking that the Arsenal coach is not yet married since he spends so much time on his team but that is wrong. This man has been married for a long time but his family never got in the way of his success and passion.
Mikel Arteta is living with the Argentine beauty Lorena Bernal.
On May 12, 1981, Lorena was born in Tucuman, Argentina; nevertheless, she moved to San Sebastian, Spain, when she was just a year old.
She was moving again, though, this time to America to start working as a model at the age of 7.
Since then, the brunette beauty has worked as an actress and TV figure in America and Spain, appearing on Chuck and CSI: Miami. When Bernal arrived in Spain at the age of nine, she has crowned Miss Spain.
She later participated in the Miss World pageant and finished in the top ten. She claims she was unaware he was a footballer when they first met when she first met the former Arsenal star in 2002.
On the island of Mallorca in 2010, Arteta and Bernal got married. The Arsenal manager currently has three lovely children.
Although he is yet to recieve a daughter, he is fortunate to have three handsome sons.
Gabriel, his eldest son, was born in 2009; Daniel, his second son, was born in 2012; and Oliver, his youngest son, was born in 2015.
Life off the field
Mikel is one of those famous figures that never talk about their personal lives. But guess what? We already have plenty of information about his life off the field that we have managed to prepare a whole separate section about it in Mikel Arteta biography.
You would usually find Arteta on the field close to his team. But when he is off, he prefers to stay home and listen to music or watch a movie as these are his favorite pastimes. If he ever decides to go outside, then he will take his tennis racket and spend his time playing his second favorite sport.
Mikel Arteta has a huge net worth. You don’t need to calculate how much he has. By taking a simple glance at his house and possessions you will quickly notice that this man has amassed a few million dollars over the years.
After all, he needs to take care of his five-member family and bring food to the table, although by the amount he has, he can bring Bugattis and Lamborghinis to his penthouse garage.
Mikel Arteta honors and trophies
For the last section of Mikel Arteta biography, we would take look at his long list of trophies and awards that he has managed to win both as a player and as a manager to this day.
His first trophy came with PSG when he was a long player the team. UEFA Intertoto Cup 2001 was the name of the trophy. Rangers gifted two very precious trophies to Mikel’s award list and these are Scottish Premier League and Scottish League Cup for 2002–03.
During his time with Arsenal as a player, Arteta had the honor to lift FA Cup twice and two FA Community Shields in 2014 and 2015.
We would skip his honors for the international team since these are inferior compared to the rest of the honors list. His individual awards also look pale. He only won a few Young Player of the Month in the Scottish Premier League and Player of the Season awards in Everton.
As a manager for his old team, Arsenal, Arteta has achieved an FA Cup for 2019-2020 and an FA Community Shield for 2020. He also became Premier League Manager of the Month for 6 months since taking control of the Gunners. For the cherry on the top of the cake, he also won the London Football Awards Manager of the Year for 2023.
We have presented everything about Mikel Arteta and now its your turn to support us with your comments!
