Perhaps all is not lost for Arsenal as their outstanding Manager who may guide them towards Premier League success for the first time since the famous Invincibles era gets a medal from his country for having achieved the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic – a Spanish civil order of honour that is presented to persons and institutions in recognition of their extraordinary services to Spain or the promotion of international relations for the country.
Arteta has been working outside his homeland since leaving Real Sociedad for Everton in 2005, with time spent as a player with Arsenal before moving into coaching at City and eventually back to the Gunners in 2019. He has told BBC Sport of receiving a prestigious award: “It’s a huge honour as you can imagine. When I was told about it I couldn’t really understand it. It makes my family really proud, it’s a big moment for all of us and it’s such a recognition and hopefully I can continue to represent our country in a beautiful way. It’s a huge recognition. It’s a big day for all of us. I have all my family here with me, [it is] a proud day. It’s been 24 years away from my country and now everything makes sense.”
He however gave a ray of hope for his medal saying it may act as a catalyst to finally bringing a trophy to North London “Maybe it’s the signal we needed. Especially after what happened [with Manchester City beating Tottenham], but we have a beautiful day ahead of us on Sunday and hopefully the magic can happen. That’s it. We have to do our deal. We know what we need in order to be champions so let’s do that.”
