The Game Plan

May 8, 2026

Standing on the verge of winning the club’s first Prem title in over 20 years and a shot at the Champions League trophy, Mikel Arteta’s project is almost complete. After years of preaching patience and belief in the project, everything stands ready to be vindicated.

With other rivals of theirs across Europe struggling to find success, Arteta’s tale offers a unique blueprint.

When first appointed in 2019, the reaction by most non-Arsenal fans was disbelief. How could a club trust a manager with no prior experience to return Arsenal to some form of glory?

After multiple attempts at finding Wegener’s successor failed, the Spaniard felt like one last gamble for a club struggling for a future. From the moment he took the job, Arteta clearly understood that this revival would need to take time. No short-term jolt seemed likely to knock the club out of its malaise; rather, a structured program would.

While they failed to win a major trophy last season, Arteta’s Arsenal finally returned to the upper echelon of football. A squad buoyed by one clear vision, with everything in the club geared towards that vision. From transfers to academy promotions, the squad needed to become Arteta’s own to deliver the success that they are now seeing.

City’s recent slip essentially guarantees Arsenal their first post-Wenger title, while the return to Europe’s biggest stage may be Arsenal’s coronation moment.

For clubs across the continent looking to return to those heights, there’s plenty to take from Arsenal’s return.

From Chelsea to Juventus, there is a tier of clubs desperate to become European powerhouses again. However, for one reason or another, they remain hamstrung in their attempts to return to Europe’s throne.

In the case of Chelsea, the new ownership’s vision meant that no semblance of stability could be achieved. The need to secure the globe’s top talents ensured that the dressing room would be constantly changing, no matter the manager. In turn, making the managerial job the most cancerous in Europe, with no manager likely to break through at Stamford Bridge.

Perhaps the worst part for Chelsea lies in the moments of success that the club has had, but it’s never been sustainable. Managers only last until they lose all patience with the club, or the constant roster churn inevitably leads to on-field regression. Even though there was constant roster and managerial churn under Roman Abramovich, the owner’s vision and organization ensured stability for the club.

Juventus represents another approach that continues to sink clubs—rather than committing to a total rebuild or spending like the rest of Europe, essentially leaving the club in limbo. The desire to return the club back to 2010s dominance pushed the organization to make constant issues with managerial appointments and transfers.

For a few years, Arsenal went down this path as well, making moves for players who clearly didn’t fit their current situation, neglecting youngsters. Eventually, Arsenal understood that a marriage between an academy movement and a sensible transfer policy was needed. Juventus finally seems to be understanding this, with the team clearly being built around the talented Kenan Yıldız.

Again, both clubs found success at different points, but neither example seems likely to return to their status as a European giant anytime soon. Instability and the inability to adapt make any revival unlikely any time soon.

Arsenal almost continued down the road of both examples, but they found a way out.

This promises to be the only encouragement for the two sides.

As mentioned earlier, the decision that ultimately saved the Gunners was the decision to enter a sort of rebuild. Rather than continuing to pretend that everything would eventually be fine, the club correctly concluded that a change was necessary.

Paired with entrusting Arteta completely, Arsenal dug themselves out of their malaise through a singular vision. While growing pains plagued his first few seasons, and even continued at times this year, trusting the Spaniard saved the club.

Throughout Wenger’s time at the helm, Arsenal’s academy was closely aligned with his vision. Not at the level of Ferguson’s United perhaps, but it remained key to the club’s identity. Arteta, having studied under Pep at City, viewed this as a way to build a side organically.

In earlier iterations of the squad, Arteta gave youngsters a fair chance, even if the fit wasn’t totally perfect. Charlie Patino and Emile Smith Rowe earned their shots, but giving the keys to Bukayo Saka proved to be his finest choice. Even with his system fully implemented now, that belief in the academy still lives.

Arteta receives plenty of criticism for the players he brings in, as many lob the idea that he only has one type. While true purely on face value, every player brought in is meant to enhance the system. Rather than trying to fit players in, the team needs to ensure all selected players pass Arteta’s test.

Again, a player like Mikel Merino lacks the appeal of a Tijjani Reijnders, but he ultimately fits his team’s system more than Reijnders. While a few stars exist within the system, it’s the environment created by the manager that is the star. Every new transfer becomes subservient to the very set of tactics that they will soon be playing within.

Everything in Arsenal’s orbit revolves around the vision of the former City assistant.

From player promotions to transfers, all needs to make sense within his system.

As other clubs across the continent stumble their way back towards dominance, Arsenal has the formula. Before any rebuild may begin, a club must understand that a total buy-in is necessary.