Manchester City were quite badly impacted by the loss of Mikel Arteta in the middle of the season, according to Joleon Lescott. Arteta had been an integral member of Pep Guardiola’s backroom staff at Manchester City before taking the Arsenal job eight months ago.
Since Guardiola’s No. 2 left the club in December to take on his first managerial role with Arsenal, the Spaniard has already lifted the FA Cup trophy with the Gunners. In his absence and during the unexpected break in the football calendar City brought in Juanma Lillo to reinforce their coaching staff that had lost two important figures in recent years in Arteta and Domenec Torrent.
Former Everton and City defender, Lescott – who knows Arteta well from his playing days, is currently involved at the Etihad working as one of the loan development managers and also offering his insight on club matchday programmes – believes that the role Arteta had in the City dressing room and his relationship with the players were a lot to replace when he left the club.
“I think Mikel Arteta’s departure to Arsenal did have an impact on Manchester City and Pep Guardiola, Lescott told the Football Index Podcast.
“Arteta was an integral member of the club so he would have left a hole and it’s difficult to cope with that appearing in the middle of a season. I know the role that Arteta played within that dressing room and he had the responsibility to keep everyone level-headed.”
Besides working extremely hard with the players, Arteta also focused on spending a lot of one-to-one time with them that Guardiola wouldn’t necessarily have the time to do so.
“I shared a dressing room with Arteta [at Everton] and if I’m honest, I couldn’t see Arteta proving to be this successful so soon as a head coach. He definitely had the knowledge and the energy. He was always a student of the game and his understanding benefitted from playing in multiple positions at the highest level, but I am surprised to see how quickly he has found success.”