When Arsenal appointed Mikel Arteta in December 2019, it was a huge gamble.

He had never managed a team before, and he left his role as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City to take over a club that had completely lost its way.

Almost seven years on, he’s overseen an incredible rebuild that has turned them into Premier League champions. Earlier this month, he signed a new deal until 2030, but it turns out Arsenal weren’t the only Premier League club that wanted to give him his first job in management.

Mikel Arteta was close to joining Newcastle in 2019

In extracts from his new book, Arsenal: The Inside Story of Arsenal’s Rebirth Under Mikel Arteta, Sam Dean of The Telegraph reveals that Newcastle pushed hard to appoint Arteta in the summer of 2019, a few months before he joined Arsenal.

Mike Ashley, then the club’s owner, wanted him as head coach and was ready to offer him a far longer contract than a first-time manager would usually get. According to Dean, Arteta was tempted and gave it serious thought. He even tried to bring some key staff with him, but the timing wasn’t right for the people he wanted.

There were other reasons for him to be wary. Rafa Benitez, the outgoing manager, was hugely popular with Newcastle fans, while Ashley was anything but, so whoever replaced him was unlikely to be given much patience. The squad was also losing Ayoze Perez and Salomon Rondon, who had scored 23 of Newcastle’s 42 Premier League goals between them the season before.

In the end, Arteta said no, much to Ashley’s frustration, and Newcastle turned to Steve Bruce instead. A few months later, Arsenal sacked Unai Emery and went for Arteta.

Had he said yes, Arteta would have been only a few months into the job at St James’ Park when Emery was sacked in November 2019, and Arsenal would have had to look elsewhere. Who knows whether they would ever have gone back for him, or where the club would be now if they hadn’t?

But the patience that he might not have been given at St James’ Park is exactly what he got at Arsenal. Two eighth-place finishes in his first two seasons could have cost him his job, but the club stuck with him, and that faith was rewarded with the Premier League title last season.