Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has revealed that he has a close bond with Chelsea counterpart Mauricio Pochettino and sees him as a “father figure”.
The pair are currently coaching rivals in the Premier League, but they were once team-mates at Paris Saint-Germain.
Arteta was loaned to PSG from Barcelona early in his senior career in 2001, joining at the same time as Pochettino. The Argentine is 10 years older than Arteta and the Gunners boss has opened up on their relationship.
Pochettino and Arteta spent a season and a half together before the latter joined Rangers. However, they came up against each other again when Arteta signed for Real Sociedad and Pochettino returned to Espanyol.
The Spaniard is now blossoming as a coach with his Arsenal team performing well in the Premier League, while Pochettino is a respected manager through his work at Espanyol, Southampton, Tottenham and PSG, before he joined Chelsea in the summer.
Arteta has hailed Pochettino as a key influence on his career alongside the likes of Pep Guardiola, Johan Cruyff and Arsene Wenger.
“Then one of the ones I have to say was Mauricio Pochettino because he was the first professional captain I had and he was like a father figure for me when I arrived at PSG,” he told Football365. “We signed almost the same day and we all landed in the same hotel, five or ten minutes away from the training ground. We could not speak French, we were there by ourselves and we spent three months in that hotel together every single day. So we built a really strong relationship. He was 30/31 years old, I was 17/18 and he just put me under his arm and carried me and protected me. It was a joy to have someone like that.”
