Considering what Unai Emery has done so far in his career, the fact that he got sacked as Arsenal boss back in 2019 is surely a surprise, but in those days, the Gunners were bad and the Spaniard had to pay the price, even though it was not all his fault. The decision to hire Mikel Arteta proved to be the most important in Arsenal’s recent history, but at the time, nobody was sure about it. The hiring process was done but much of that was decided on a hunch, and the Spanish manager had some big names ahead of him when Edu was tasked to find another coach.##LINKED_NEWS_69892##As per Telegraph Sport’s Sam Dean, who will publish a book “Arsenal: The Inside Story of Arsenal’s Rebirth Under Mikel Arteta” later this month, the initial idea was to Freddie Ljungberg as the caretaker manager until the end of the season. But the former Gunner didn’t even have a proper supporting cast in the dugout and soon it was evident this was not gonna work and that a permanent manager is needed after all. Back then, Arteta was totally inexperienced and had been Guardiola’s assistant in Manchester City. There were bigger names ahead of him in the pecking order. When we look some of them now, it looks silly that they were even considered ahead of Arteta, but back in 2019, they had a lot of experience while Arteta had none.##LINKED_NEWS_69675##The Gunners looked at Mauricio Pochettino, the recently sacked coach of their bitter rivals Tottenham, and he was under serious consideration, as well as Roberto Martínez, then Belgian boss with stints in Wigan and Everton. Patrick Vieira, a much bigger club legend than Areta, was also in the mix, just like Julian Nagelsmann and Massimiliano Allegri who had just won his fifth consecutive Serie A title with Juventus. The only advantage for Arteta was his history at the club. It was the men inside the Emirates stadium who spoke to Edu and persuaded him to at least consider calling the Spaniard. Ben Knapper, a first-team analyst while Arteta was the player, as well as Jason Ayto and Mark Curtis in the analytics and recruitment fields were believers that Arteta would be a great coach.##TWITTER_<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">🇪🇸😮💨 Mikel Arteta has won trophies with Arsenal as both a player and coach. 🏆✅ https://t.co/JSthEkzSmi</p>— EuroFoot (@eurofootcom) <a href="https://x.com/eurofootcom/status/2089025504699458008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 16, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>##“I interviewed six coaches, all of them with big experience. The only one who did not have big experience was Mikel. When I decided to give an opportunity to Mikel, I sent him a message and gave him a call. We started to talk on the phone about the possibility, the situation, the project and everything” recalls Edu, who added that the first conversation was about hour long and was not about football. The second meeting was agreed in person.“I presented to Mikel what we believed to be correct for the club. I spoke to him about the squad, the culture, the strategy and everything that I had thought in my six months inside the club. And Mikel was extremely prepared for the conversation. He was prepared to such a level that it felt like he was inside the club already. He presented and spoke about everything. Everything. It was extremely impressive, the way he presented his strategy, the way he was seeing the club and also the excitement he had to start the project. I was like: ‘Wow, this guy is prepared – to the next level’” said Edu.##LINKED_NEWS_49205##Next it was time to present all candidates to Josh Kroenke, the son of owner Stan Kroenke, managing director Vinai Venkatesham and contract negotiator Huss Fahmy. Raul Sanllehí, the head of football was also present, just like he was at the second meeting with Arteta, and he was also impressed.“We brought pictures of all the names I interviewed. All their faces were on the table. I was prepared to talk through each of them to the group. Because Mikel was so impressive, his face was in front of everyone else. I remember Raul said: ‘If his picture is at the front, let’s call the guy and make the decision straight away’” said the Brazilian.##LINKED_NEWS_53250##Edu also talked to Arteta’s former teammate Mertesacker, who was in the club.“I remember I spoke to Per Mertesacker, Arteta’s former Arsenal team-mate about Mikel. I asked Per about him as a person, as a guy, how he was in the dressing room. All the information that I collected was extremely positive. The decision in the end, talking to Josh Kroenke and explaining it to him, it was a feeling. There are a lot of top coaches. But to work with someone for the long term, they have to be very good and you also need to have some feelings and connections” said Edu, who ultimately made a great choice.PREMIER LEAGUE – MATCHDAY 7SaturdayEverton – Chelsea 0-2 (0-0)/Neto 46, 90+1/Brentford – Liverpool 1-2 (1-0)/Lewis-Potter 44 – Munoz 62, Isak 70/Fulham – Hull 1-0 (1-0)/Iwobi 33/Man.City – Ipswich 3-2 (2-1)/Foden 19, Haaland 34, 69 – Maeda 21, Flemming 90(p)/Newcastle – Aston Villa 0-1 (0-1)/Manzambi 36/SundayBournemouth – Sunderland 2-0 (1-0)/Tavernier 6, Evanilson 48/Brighton – Crystal Palace 5-0 (3-0)/Canvot 4 og, Gomez 7, Ayari 10, Kostoulas 49, Hinshelwood 84/Leeds – Manchester United 1-1 (0-1)/Calvert-Lewin 51 – Mbeumo 35/Nottingham Forest – Arsenal 0-1 (0-0)/Madueke 80/Monday22.00: (1.50) Tottenham (4.30) Coventry (6.50)***odds are subject to change***##SOFASCORE_<iframe id="sofa-standings-embed-1-96668" src="https://widgets.sofascore.com/embed/tournament/1/season/96668/standings?widgetTitle=Premier+League&showCompetitionLogo=true&widgetTheme=light" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="width:100%!important; height:1123px!important;max-width:768px!important;"></iframe><div style="font-size:12px;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;text-align:left"> Standings provided by <a target="_blank" href="https://sofascore.com/">Sofascore</a> </div>##