Kevin Campbell praises Mikel Arteta despite not wanting him at Arsenal

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Former Arsenal player Kevin Campbell has told Talk Sport that Mikel Arteta wasn’t his first choice to be the club’s new boss when Unai Emery departed.

The ex-striker was speaking to Darren Lewis on the station’s Kick-Off show and was quizzed about the managerial situation at the Emirates.

Campbell claims he wanted former Juventus boss Max Allegri to take over from the departed Spaniard.

He told Talk Sport: “I will be honest with you, Mikel Arteta wasn’t my first choice, I wanted Max Allegri.

“I wanted him because of the way he sets his teams up and the discipline of his teams. Arsenal have lacked so much discipline that I just wanted someone to come in and bolt the whole thing down; get defensive again and get back to not conceding goals.”

Despite Allegri not getting the chance to revive Arsenal’s fortunes, Campbell has been willing to give the former midfielder a chance.

Under his stewardship, the club has certainly improved. The Gunners are quickly becoming draw specialists though having drawn 13 of their 25 fixtures.

Arsenal have drawn four games in succession in the Premier League and will face Newcastle at home on Sunday as they return from their winter break.

Campbell made 228 appearances for the Gunners, scoring 46 goals and becoming a big hit with the club’s supporters.

Despite not originally fancying him, he is impressed with the work he has done so far.

He continued: “I’m really impressed with what Arteta is doing; they’re playing on the front foot and he’s improved a lot of the players.

“He’s making these players who were underachieving better. There’s still stuff that needs to be addressed and signing Pablo Mari is an excellent piece of business.”

It is fair to say that Arteta has stopped the rot. A lot of drawn games, however, have seen the Gunners slip to tenth.

Continuity

A run of winless games has seen them fall out of contention for Europe and their best chance of qualification next season looks like being through the Europa League.

Campbell is right though, Arteta has improved the Gunners and in time he could get them back to where they belong.

Arsenal need to stick with the Spaniard and let him build. The atmosphere had become toxic under Emery and at least the club looks to be be united once again.