Former Bafana Bafana captain Aaron Mokoena has revealed why he has a soft spot for Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta.
Arteta stepped into coaching since 2016 after his retirement as a professional player and started as assistant to Pep Guardiola at his former side Manchester City. He then moved to the Gunners in 2020 and finished in eighth in his first season in charge. The former Spain junior international came close to winning the league with Arsenal on two occasions in the 2022/23 season and the previous term.
‘Mbazo’ shared the stage with Arteta in their former days while playing for Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth in the English Premier League.
The 43-year-old discussed the new EPL season with iDiski Times editor Rob Delport in edition 172 of the newspaper where he said Arteta has been learning from the best in the game, and that he is good but will always have trouble to win the league with the Citizens around.
“I don’t really have the team that I have a soft spot for, but I have a soft spot for Arteta” Mokoena told iDiski Times.
“The reason why I have a soft spot for him is because he played football in my era, and I played against him. Unfortunately, I broke his leg when he was at Everton, and I was at Blackburn. But then you can see that he’s a fantastic student of the game. And he learned from the best. Sitting next to Pep Guardiola and taking over such a big, big team as Arsenal, and doing well. I think he is doing well of course.
“I mean, he’s competing with Man City right there. Man City have invested a lot, and have invested a lot in the manager and the players and the manager knows Arteta very well, so it’s going to be difficult for him to win the league anytime soon, as long as Man City is there.
“But you can see that Arteta actually is getting out there and beating teams convincingly and playing fantastic football that the supporters have been hoping for. So, yeah, I truly have a soft spot for him.”
