Walcott: Arteta completely reshaped Arsenal, he will lead them to win the champions league

Before the Champions League final, Walcott appeared at the fan carnival in Heroes' Square, Budapest. After a five-a-side football match, he was interviewed by Sky Sports. Arsenal fans present enthusiastically welcomed him. After scoring, he imitated Gyökeres' celebration, drawing continuous cheers from the crowd. When he took the microphone, Walcott stated unequivocally that Arsenal winning the final was a certainty, not an unknown.

"I'm certain he will continue to lead the team to dominate football," Walcott said of Arteta and the Arsenal team he coaches. The Gunners have just won a trophy after many years, and it is now widely believed that the team is about to enter its peak period.

If they can defeat defending champions Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final in Budapest, Arteta's coaching career will reach a new level. In English football, only Sir Alex Ferguson and Guardiola have led domestic clubs to both the Premier League and Champions League titles.

Not long ago, public opinion was still hotly debating what kind of public perception Arteta would face if the season's performance fell short of expectations. But now, external views on Arsenal and Arteta are changing. The team is just one final game away from achieving this feat.

During the pre-match preparation phase, Arteta was underestimated. Paris Saint-Germain coach Luis Enrique called him "little Mikel," and although he said it was just an affectionate nickname between former teammates, the underlying meaning was obvious, hinting that the other party was still junior and beneath him.

As a player, Arteta failed to make it into the Barcelona first team. Unlike the players he now coaches, and unlike Luis Enrique on the opposing bench, who played 62 times for his national team, Arteta was never selected for the senior national team. However, he has already led his team to victory against Guardiola, and now Luis Enrique is also very likely to be defeated by him.

In Hungary, the entire Arsenal team's confidence is growing. At the fan carnival in Heroes' Square, Gunners fans repeatedly chanted cheer songs related to set pieces. The event host invited a young fan to predict the score, and the child predicted Arsenal would win 1-0 with a header from Gabriel. Fans genuinely trust the team Arteta has built.

Arsenal has embarked on a long road of transformation to change the team's past spirit. "He completely reshaped the team culture within the club," Walcott said. He deeply understands this, having joined Arsenal as a young man twenty years ago and witnessed the club's ups and downs over the years.

In 2006, Arsenal was still a strong force in European football, narrowly losing the Champions League final to Barcelona that year. By the time Walcott left in 2018, Arsenal could no longer even qualify for the Champions League. The team spent a long and difficult time returning to Europe's top competitions.

In his first two seasons as coach, Arteta led the team to eighth place in the Premier League consecutively. "Many other coaches would not have been given such a long coaching period, ample resources, and club support. The Arsenal hierarchy gave him enough patience, and Arteta repaid that trust with tangible work."

From 2011 to 2016, Walcott and Arteta were teammates for five years. "Arteta has an extremely strong work ethic, leads by example in everything, and pays special attention to cultivating good daily habits in players. Sometimes when players are reluctant to implement training content, he will urge everyone to complete it with quality and quantity."

This is also why most players who worked with him in the past are optimistic about his coaching prospects. Previously, in a TV program segment, Tim Cahill strongly supported Arteta on a Sky Sports program in 2020, believing that even with poor team results, Arsenal's team-building system was promising, whereas Roy Keane at the time only focused on the terrible league ranking.

Cahill played alongside Arteta at Everton. When most Arsenal fans couldn't see the team's future direction, he understood Arteta's team-building philosophy. The good habits that Walcott mentioned, strictly cultivated, have now taken root in the team, and Arsenal is finally reaping the rewards.

"In private, he is a focused and passionate person," Walcott added. "When we worked together, I already felt he had natural leadership qualities. More than that, his demeanor always makes people willing to follow his arrangements."

More importantly, Arteta has built deep connections with his players. "He is good at getting along with players. He cares more about the players themselves than their performance on the field. This close relationship has been a huge help. Every time I go to the training ground, I can feel the positive atmosphere of the entire team."

Arteta once recounted an amusing anecdote about the day the team secured the Premier League title: he dared not watch the match between Manchester City and Bournemouth, and it was eventually his family who rushed outside to tell him the good news of the championship. Walcott said that outside the pitch, Arteta has a completely different side. "He knows how to relax in his free time. I once ran into him on vacation, and he was playing football with his children, enjoying himself immensely."