Arteta told he must emulate Wenger at Arsenal by mastering art of man-management

Mikel Arteta will need to emulate Arsene Wenger by mastering the art of man-management if he takes the reins at Arsenal, says Ray Parlour, with the Spaniard no longer in a position where he can be “everyone’s mate”.

Former Arsenal star Parlour told talkSPORT: “I think Arteta, going forward his biggest job and his hardest job is going to be the man-management skills.

“When you're number two you're everyone's mate. You're with the players. You don't have to pick the side. You are in the dressing room as before chatting with the lads, like you're still a player, but you're still next to the manager and feeding back a little bit.

“Now you're manager, you've got to make big decisions. You might have to upset certain players and that's the hardest job, to get the right balance between upsetting players and leaving people out and still keeping them on your side, which is very difficult to do.

“Arsene Wenger was a master of it. You can only pick 11 people. You've got a squad of 25. Everybody wants to play. It's keeping everybody involved in the club to feel like you're wanted. That's his hardest challenge.

“He's been a player himself. He knows how to deal with people. I've heard he is very inquisitive, always asking about things at the training ground when he was there. Wenger has said good things about him and appointed him his skipper.

“I'm sure he's learned a little bit from Pep Guardiola on how he deals with players on a daily basis, because he's got some big stars on that team, and it'll be interesting to see how he does it at Arsenal. Of course it's a gamble.”