Arteta on Madueke going back to Chelsea (Full Presser part 2)

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta on Madueke going back to Chelsea  28/11/2025  Sobha Realty Training Ground, London, UK

Transcript

00:00How much of a point do you think he'll have on Sunday?

00:04Because he's going to get a lively reception.

00:07Well, I'm very pleased with him since the day that I came.

00:10His attitude, the energy that he's brought to the team.

00:13Another kind of threat is his capacity to play right and left.

00:18And his skill set is different to what we had.

00:21And we saw again that on Wednesday, starting on one position,

00:25then changing to the other position and being very, very efficient.

00:29So, great to have him back.

00:31He was obviously featured in this online petition.

00:34He's obviously got a great reception from Arsenal fans

00:36from the very moment he played the Premier League.

00:39But were you ever worried at all when there was this online petition

00:42for Arsenal to reconsider?

00:44And equally, just widening it a bit, does that worry you,

00:47the sort of stuff that other players have to suffer,

00:50whereas as a player you didn't have to worry about it,

00:52because obviously that wasn't around?

00:55I don't know.

00:56If anything, it gave me more conviction and more will to help him

01:01and to do everything that we possibly could

01:03to make this relationship work

01:05and prepare everything around him in the best possible way.

01:09But I think that lasted a very short period of time,

01:12and immediately we had completely the opposite reaction,

01:14which I think he valued, respected, and it was like fuel to him.

01:19Yeah, it didn't affect him at all.

01:21I don't think so.

01:22Sam, can I go off?

01:24Is this version of Declan, is this like the final four?

01:28Is this the best?

01:29Is the Declan you kind of always envisaged,

01:31or is there even more of him, do you think?

01:34Probably, yes.

01:37A year or two ago, yes.

01:39But now, being with him every single day

01:41and understanding and connecting with him

01:45in the way that I've done, we're going to get more.

01:49Because he wants more, he's going to get more.

01:52The team knows him better.

01:53His role is growing around the team.

01:55The impact that he has on the team is huge,

01:57and we'll find ways to make him even better.

02:00What areas do you think there could be?

02:03I guess goals if one of them would get 30 goals a year or something.

02:07Well, that would vary in relation to the position as well,

02:10the spaces that he occupied and how often he is in certain areas,

02:13but there will be other areas that he will evolve.

02:17And just lastly, obviously you don't spend that much money on a player

02:20without knowing over quite a long period of time that you want him.

02:24Was there a moment or at what point did you think

02:27that the writer you saw at West Ham was the guy you wanted to buy?

02:31When did you first start thinking,

02:33yeah, he's the one for me?

02:34Yeah, I don't think.

02:35You have to be a genius, you know.

02:37I knew him for a long time and I knew how he could help evolve

02:41and change the team.

02:43And he certainly done and probably improved those expectations.

02:48Was there a lack of a specific game or a specific moment when you went back to that?

02:52Probably there is. I have to think about it.

02:55Most of the times, if you have the option to see a player live

03:01and sense him and get that energy, that presence,

03:05that charisma the player has on top of his qualities,

03:07it's something else.

03:08And probably when he was around I said,

03:10that's a special player.

03:13Ed got it.

03:14Just on deck as well, obviously he was playing in a slightly different position at West Ham.

03:19Now he's evolved into this new position.

03:21Did you see that in him while he was in at West Ham

03:23that he could play that more evolved role in the future?

03:27Yeah, to be fair, I had this one, I had another position.

03:31It was a little bit further back to do something else after in a different position.

03:36He can adapt to anything that you throw at him.

03:40But at the moment, that forward thing and anything that is in front of him

03:45is probably much more positive for the team.

03:48He said he did a couple of good interviews after the game the other night

03:51where he was saying how there's real anger in the players

03:55and what's happened over the last three seasons.

03:59Do you sense that when you look into the players' eyes

04:01that you almost don't have to give them a team talk at the moment

04:04because they want it so much?

04:06Yes, but I sense that for a long time.

04:08And that's a great thing, that desire, that willingness to win

04:11and to do everything that we have in our hands to be the best as we can.

04:16It's unquestionable and they show with actions every single day.

04:20And we're going to try to do that.

04:22And just on deck as a leader as well, how has he developed since he's been here

04:27as a leader of the team?

04:29Because obviously the first year it takes a bit of time to settle in,

04:31but now he's really, really setting it down.

04:35Well, a huge amount, obviously.

04:37He was a captain at West Ham.

04:40He comes here to a new club, new environment.

04:42There are things that are already set.

04:44But he has the right to increase that role,

04:47to be more and more important,

04:49to be very present in everything that we do.

04:51He's in the leadership group, which is very important as well.

04:54And it's a real presence.

04:55And sometimes you don't need to just wear the armband

04:58to feel really connected, really powerful and really important in the team.

05:03OK, the last couple of you send me in.

05:05John?

05:06Hi, MacArthur.

05:07You heard Timber earlier in the week's book about the impact of religion

05:10and how important it is to him and some players in your team.

05:13What effect does religion have possibly on this squad?

05:16And do you utilise it in any way to improve performances or get the squad together?

05:20They do, and I love it because I think that connects them more.

05:24And the fact that some of them have the same beliefs or strong beliefs about that

05:29and how that helps their wellbeing and mental side of that

05:33and what it brings to them as human beings, I think it's phenomenal.

05:38And how do they do it?

05:40That's something for them, private.

05:42On a separate topic then, so last season because of injuries,

05:44Ethan Wynary and Miles Lewis had a number of starts to plug them gaps.

05:49This season they've been pretty much on the bench in the league.

05:52Going forward, you've obviously got a few youngsters as well in the academy

05:55who are now rising up and trying to make a name for themselves.

05:58How do you kind of show them that there's a pathway to the first team?

06:02If you've got some good squad depth, you're competing for the Champions League,

06:06Premier League, how is it possible to get that pathway?

06:09Well, there's a really, very good option.

06:11It's to look at our line-ups and looking at Max making the youngest ever debut

06:19in the Champions League.

06:20Ethan, he played in the Champions League before.

06:22Miles, he played against the best team in Europe as I started in the Champions League.

06:27I think that's the best one to say, listen, these are not words, these are facts.

06:30Okay, finally to go.

06:32You spoke about the positive energy that you get from all these big wins.

06:37Do you feel that there's enough to be built up a bank of that

06:40that can get you all the way to the end of the season?

06:43All these wins are being achieved with the same sort of injuries that they couldn't cope with the last season?

06:50I don't know.

06:51I think if it's enough for the next game and we get it with the full tank

06:56and full belief, that's enough.

06:58And that we have to restore it and we have to probably earn it every single week.

07:03The good thing is that that spirit, that energy doesn't only come for results,

07:07it comes as well for the spirit and the cohesion and the atmosphere

07:11that is around the squad, around the team, around the club.

07:14And that's something very positive.

07:16Can we talk about confidence and belief?

07:18It's not something you can measure in statistics, is it?

07:21No.

07:22Can a manager feel it?

07:25How do you gauge it?

07:27Can you tell by looking at them?

07:30Obviously you've won all these games now.

07:32As you said, I cannot put something and look at the temperature on the team,

07:36but I think we know them really well.

07:38I think we are around them.

07:40We listen to them and just try to figure what they need on the day.

07:46Sometimes to bring them down a little bit as well sometimes.

07:49So whatever they need, we are here to support them and try to get into the games

07:54and every day in training in the best possible spirit.

07:56Does the manager need to be a bit of a pessimist as well?

07:59Pessimist?

08:00Yeah, just to think, well, something could go wrong.

08:02Yeah, I think naturally we all are.

08:04We look at every team and they are the best in the world.

08:07And that's naturally how you want to analyse everything,

08:10because you want to be prepared and you want to make sure that you give your best

08:14to get the players in the right position to win games.

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