Football Daily - Mikel Arteta’s People and Places

Episode Date: May 16, 2024

Come inside Mikel Arteta’s home as he sits down, in his living room, with Guillem Balagué to chat about all the great moments in his life – both in football and away from it. From his childhood on the beaches of San Sebastián, to the bunk beds of the Barcelona academy, hear his stories of moving to Paris with his mum and embracing the British weather in Glasgow. Through the influences of Pep Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino, his parents – and especially his wife – we explore his growth from a player to the Arsenal manager, while delving into the more personal aspects of his life, like why Mallorca holds such a special place in his heart.

BBC Sounds. Music, totally transformed under their leader, Mikel Arteta, who's sitting next to me. Hello, Mikel. Hello. Thank you for allowing us to speak to you. Are you home in such a busy week? Thanks for having me. You've allowed us to break down one of those walls that rarely come down. We are in your space, in your home. Do you feel we've invaded you or you're okay? No, I feel very comfortable. That's all right. This chat will be based on a few questions that I put you in advance. You have to choose a friend,

a conversation, a trip, a movie, a relationship. And I feel that that's going to help us understand you and get to know you better Did you have fun putting it all together with Lorena, your wife? Yes, we did, we spent some time and there are questions that you don't have to answer too often so it's a good reflection as well So how did it work? You just opened a bottle of wine and sat down in the kitchen and let's go

like right let's go through this thing it was actually after dinner yeah we put the kids in bed and we started to go through that and and yeah going through some memories and and it took it took a while to decide some answers to be fair because everybody's gonna hear the answers and they feel very personal i've known you for many years and some of it came as a surprise to me. So we'll go through it. But do you feel people, fans, media know you well? Well, they will know probably the professional. They will know the manager, the coach and the person that is trying to contribute with his all energy and ability and skill to improve our club and our players.

But personally, it's more difficult because it has to be a line. It has to be a wall as well that we all need and a private space because outside that as well, is a life the most important life or part of my life that it's my family and and the people that I love my job I think is going to make a crack into that world a little bit and show a little bit what what you are like and here quite clearly in the office in the training ground you're the boss you're the leader you're the inspirer how important is this place where we are right now home where you are what the father the husband the the one who looks after blue the dog well i feel really lucky because the moment that i park in my car and the sun of my engine goes off, I start to hear noises, steps.

Sometimes you say this blue is the first one with that sense. And after that, normally it's my little one only. And it's incredible. I feel so lucky to experience every day, to come home and people waiting for you, excited to see you and ready waiting for you excited to see you and ready to to give you a hug to tell you that they love you daddy we miss you how was your day and and they start to to ask the right questions and and start good conversations so um it's an environment that i feel safe i feel very inspired as well and i feel very lucky. Favourite room in this Pomli house you've got?

What will be the favourite room? Probably it will be the sofa because at the end it's a very intimate place. We spend quite a lot of time watching movies, having conversations, having dinners. They love to have dinners around the coach and talking about what we've been doing, the future plans that we have and trips that we want to plan. And it's very relaxing. There's a lot of physical contact there as well with your family. It's one of the nicest things that you can experience.

It's a big sofa, but most of the time we are one on top of each other and it's one of the things that makes me feel better other managers houses have been they've got a cave a little place which is like where they hide and they do work even though they're not supposed to a home but it does happen of course you must have that your little office your little space as well no yeah i have a place upstairs um to work and i have another place downstairs with lorena to be fair we both use it together many times to to disconnect and to take it somewhere else i asked you for a movie and you chose gladiator first of all where would you watch it in this room or well obviously it's a movie that i watched many times not too much recently there are clips of that movie as well that for me are very significant i feel very attached to them and there is something as well

with the with the soundtrack and and the music of that movie and i I don't know. It's a movie that I would never be bored to watch again. And yeah, I feel very good watching it. It's been an incredible journey from San Sebastian to North London. And in this Five Lives Sports special, we've been invited to Mikel's home to talk about the people and places that have shaped Mikel into the person he is today. So right, Mikel, we better start at your birthplace, San Sebastián. What was your district, what was your street like?

It was Juan de Garay, it's a little street in the center of Juan Tivo, which is a neighborhood that is very close to the beach. I went to school five minutes walk from my house. My best friend used to live downstairs. And that's where I grew up, in a really, again, safety environment, with a family full of love, very dedicated to me and my sister Amaya. And yeah, a wonderful city that offers you, as a kid, every possibility to grow in the streets,

to get to know people, to feel safe, to be in contact with nature and to eat in a really healthy way as well, which is important. And yeah, very lucky to go on whatever. With the sea nearby, the Basque Country is known for many people who've left the Basque Country and conquered the world. And I think we'll talk about some of those later.

But does the sea remind you that the world is very big, that there is another world out there for you to discover? Yes, we are really, really, really lucky because we have the ocean and we have the mountains and the city is built between the two. That's very rare to see. So you always have escape and you always have the capacity to connect with nature. I love the water. I love the sun and I love the beach.

And those three factors factors you include a football on top of that and is where I spent most of the hours of the day playing on the beach when I was a kid for me it was a perfect combination. What a place to learn many things about football than playing in the beach many of you have done that Xavi Alonso before that Perico Alonso, his dad. So many of the players that ended up at Real Sociedad or even Atletico later on have played many hours in the beach. What do you get out of that experience?

You play barefoot to start with. So again, you are in contact directly with that ball. The surface is extremely unpredictable, so you have to constantly adapt. Physically, it's very demanding because you know what it is to play in the sun. And then, yeah, there was no better motivation than to, after that, have a nice swim on the water. So I think it's something unique. Is it fair to say that the Basque Country is a football-mad area?

That football means a lot to a lot of people. There is a football everywhere, you know, and the city is built with a lot of parks and places to play football. And it's a huge merit because they have maintained that in many ways, not only on the beach but as well in many parts of the city that you can do that. And I think part of the success is coming from that culture that is ignited in the city that that you can do that and i think part of the success is coming from that that culture that is ignited in the city and that love for the game and and everybody is so connected

as well to to reassociate that and i think it's something very special we already seen glimpses of of what your mind is made of because you're talking about a collective effort to play football in the beach for instance which is very different to like say the south of spain where we praise the individual the torero the bullfighter the one who's different in the best countries about communities about team effort isn't it absolutely that doesn't mean that obviously at a certain age what you want to do is have the ball dribble and score goals. And you cannot cut that ambition, that talent from the young ones. But as well, as you said, there is a huge sense of, first of all, commitment and effort.

That's the minimum that you can do. And then there is a big, as well, emphasis on respect for the game, respecting the opponent, but again, winning, you know. There has to be a purpose that at the end of the day you want to be better than your opponent and you have to win. And it's like a little battle, and when you look at our history,

we had a few, and we have to overcome them, and I think that's ignited there as well. You were from the district of Antiguo and your team is very famous. It was Antiguoco and you played with a bunch of talented, now managers, former players,

but now managers. Remind us. The two of those are Xavi Alonso and Andoni Raul. In the same team, right? In the same team. So we're at the odds, yeah. How team so where are the odds yeah how old were you at the time so we started to play together when we were 11 I think um till we were 13 14

in different tournaments with different teams because the ages are a little bit different Xavi is a little bit older than us but uh it's incredible I was sitting we're not sitting standing next to Andoni a week ago when we played him and it's like we were talking about it you know how is this possible you know and it's the beauty of this game but in in my journey I had a few moments like this with a few ex-teammates and a few ex-friends that we have played together and it's unbelievable how the circle can can close and and get you again and living some experiences together because obviously that area Donosti and Tiwo is also the roots it's where everything starts and I ask you for you to choose a relationship that is special to you.

And you decided that the relationship with the parents is the one that comes to mind, no? Yeah. What would that be? Because I think my parents are the ones that helped me to make me the person that I am, to be so clear on the ambitions that I had, to choose who I wanted to be. They gave me the education and then they gave me the freedom. So for me, the turning point is when they presented me

the opportunity to go to Barcelona, I was 14 years old, never left San Sebastian. At that time, it was like going to a different world. And they say, it's your choice. You are ready. We're going to support you. Your sister will stay with us. And we will do everything that we can for you to fulfill your dream.

And that gave me an incredible power and freedom at the same time to fulfill my dream. I wanted to go to Barca. That was it. And I had to go there there but full of confidence that I was ready to do it and I could live without them and I suffer and I realize how much I love them and how important they are in my life when the minute that I didn't have in the moment that they left me there and and they turned the car and and they left I felt completely empty you know so is it is that really what I want? Is that really the dream?

Or that dream doesn't make sense if my loved ones are not next to me? But then, yeah, you start to get to know people and start to build those friendships and those connections every single day with other people. And again, that's what it filled me up. And I said, yeah, I can manage that and it's worth it.

That day when the car turned and they went away was part of your first day in La Masia. Yeah. That would have been. What else do you remember from that day? Because I asked you for a memory and that's where you mentioned. Well, the first memory that I have, we have a director of that academy.

His name was Joan. And I walk in and say, okay, I'm going to walk you through the building. So I make a few steps and Pepe Reina came on. And he says, hello, welcome. What's your name? Blah, blah, blah. And we started to talk. And after that, he's been one of my best friends.

We shared bunk beds for three years. One of the best memories that I have in my life is the time that we spent together. Who else did you cross paths with at that time in La Masia? So there were four rooms in La Masia, four bunk beds, so eight kids per room, 32 in total. Our room was Pepe Reina, Victor Valdez,

Fernando Macedo Nano played for Barcelona as well, Aruna Abangida, Andres Iniesta, Roberto Trasoras, and Thiago Mota. Wow. So, yeah. Again, we got on really,

really well. It was challenging because we're all from different parts of the world and different ages as well and we all needed each other so there was a there was an element there of yes we were competing with each other because we had to because we all

wanted to get to the first team but it was a real sense of family and looking after each other I had Andres next to me listening to the radio on the program at 11 12 o'clock at night sometimes crying because he was missing his family and we help each other so much so it was one of the best times in my life for sure the best but you already mentioned about crying and the difficulties of leaving your parents behind. I think Leo Messi told me that the worst day when he was in the academy,

even though he didn't live in La Masia, but he was in Rona Pamp, was Sunday, because the local boys would go home with their parents and they'd be picked up by their parents and the likes of yourself would stay on your own on a Sunday, I suppose. You're surrounded by kids like yourself, no?

Yeah, but I think it's the best part of my life because I feel that I overcome certain challenges and difficulties. That's what makes it so good. If not, it would have been so easy. But I needed people as well to help me to do that challenge. We had incredible coaches look after us, even the weekends that you're talking. I used to go to all these people's houses.

Pepe at the time, the second, third year, he has his family. He used to go for lunch every Sunday with them, with all the friends that we used to do. Sometimes you have to be by yourself and you have to decide, okay, what do I do? I'm 15 years old.

I'm in Barcelona. I have a day off. What do I do? What do I want to do with my time and uh and that's important as well sometimes to to struggle and to understand okay so what's next what you had to do coming out of la masia was go through an area that hasn't got much light and there was a lot going on yeah that a 15 year old perhaps shouldn't have seen is that right yes absolutely and then get into town

that will be a usual uh after training a usual afternoon for you and and your teammates yeah we had to go to school and obviously that was a challenge as well uh because everything was in catalan so you have to learn the language you have to write in Catalan it was difficult and when you move to Barcelona your priority is never going to be school, your priority is going to be Jesus Christ, the level is so big I want to get better, I want to be better than them I don't know if I'm good enough

and my dream is to go to the first team the first team was training in the pitch next to the building so from my room, I could watch the training session. So a lot of times I wanted to skip a school so I could watch the training session. So it was always a challenge to make those two things work at the same time together. The environment, it could not be more inspiring and at the same time, exciting to see, Jesus, I'm in the right place. But the standards and the level is so high. So I'm excited to see Jesus. I'm in the right place, but the standards and the level is so high,

so I'm going to have to improve a lot. And what did you take with you from what was taught in La Masia at the time? What's still with you? Well, the first thing, on a personal level, having the capacity to navigate yourself as 14, 15, 60 year olds in this environment and having the mental toughness you know and the personality to be clear and determined on how you're going to achieve your dream and the second one is the football side is the game

understanding and that's like a different world open. So they made me understand the game in a completely different way. So the way I was getting coached, the way I was explaining tactics, the role, the anticipation of how things were going to develop in the game, it was something else, you know. I was like music to my ears and this is unbelievable and I was enjoying every minute of it and we had a fascinating team as you can imagine at that at that time and it was a university every day. Who proposed to you to go to PSG?

When you were 17 years old. And it was in the middle of the season. I was playing with the B team already, which at that time it was very competitive already. And I get a phone call from my agent. I said, listen, Luis Fernandez is the coach of PSG. Luis wanted to take me to Athletic Bilbao. He was the coach of Athletic Bilbao

a year or two before. And at 16 he wanted to take me to the Festival of Athletics. You know, if you come there now, you're going to play with me. And I was like 16 years old. I said, I want to stay in Barcelona. So when he was named the manager at PSG, he said, come and

you're going to play for me but at the time they had Anelka, Ronaldinho Cocha, Pochettino Peter Luxang, Frederic Dehaut it was a team of stars and I said I haven't played any professional football yet and he just said on the phone trust me

I believe in you so we took the bags, we went to Paris it was a difficult decision because my dream was to play for barcelona but i think at the time i had to be very realistic pep was in his prime and chavi hernandez was not even playing at the time and i said i know i have the chance at the moment so i need to maybe try a different path and experience that and we made the call and we moved to Paris and I was lucky because my mom said what you want to do you want to go on your own what do you need and I said I want you to come with me my dad was still working so the two of us we packed

everything in two hours we got on a plane and we went to Paris. Your mom and you? Yeah. And how did that work? Incredibly well. So we flew, we got to the airport, somebody picked us up, we went to the offices, we signed the contract, it was a long deal. My dad was there as well,

my agent was there. I went to the hotel. In the hotel we had Mauricio Pochettino with his family and Quique de Lucas with his family as well so for three months we lived together in that hotel and that was like going back to La Masia with some families and with Mauricio it was 30 or 31 at the time and with Kike already with guys with so much experience so again that was that was a master for me

you end up in Scotland I've just been I just spent the weekend in Glasgow what a place so yeah

we were there we had a year and a half you worked really well I wanted to stay there them and

Barca didn't find an agreement I had to make an early call and on that process we play in Champions League against the Rangers and we have to them and Barca didn't find an agreement. I had to make an early call. And on that process, we play in Champions League against the Rangers and we have to go to Glasgow. And that probably what you just witnessed for your first time there, that's what I witnessed when I went there.

I went there and I said, wow, what is this? I've never seen an atmosphere like this. Look how passionate these people are. So they came in for me straight away after that game and uh and i said well maybe it's an opportunity as well and um my only condition was i think is we have to reunite the family so yeah we have a family talk and uh and i said i think we have been split up for a while now in Barcelona it was myself then my mom came in

then we went to Paris my mom my dad was still working my sister was left a little bit finishing uni I said it's time that we get together so we said okay let's embrace that and let's go to Glasgow different experience for all of us my sister got a job in the BBC

and we all moved there and said let's have these goals and it might sound yeah but from Paris best decision that we made it was really challenging completely different football you have to

survive or die in that context and an amazing club, fascinating environment, great city and I leave games that they will stick with me the rest of my life. You said before that it was like a first experience of British football, mentality and physicality of it. You learn a lot from it, I imagine. Well it's the same that

when I went to Barcelona I said that a different world opened up I went there and it was a completely

different world so Alex McLeish was the manager Scottish manager completely different ideas completely different

methods he talked about the game in a different way and I said ok I'm going to have to adapt to this

because that's going to be different. And go to stadiums in Scotland where the style is very different, where the surface is very different, where the weather is very different, where the value for something positive is very different. It was really, really helpful for me as well and I think that made me a better player. Something else happened in Glasgow, did you meet somebody special in Glasgow? Yes, no he wasn't in Glasgow, he

was in San Sebastian while I was in Glasgow so that was during Christmas the season used to stop there for three or four weeks I went to Baxos and Sebastian and and one of those evenings I met Lorena for the first time and since that day we've been together Lorena who is well you put the names not just your wife friend advisor even somebody that I asked you choose a conversation, and you said any conversation with Lorena. For sure. Because they are the most meaningful ones, the deepest ones, the most honest ones.

She has changed my life. She has changed my perception about life, the way I'm looking at things, and the way I'm looking at things and the way at looking at people especially treating people looking after people and yeah we have three kids together we have lived in different countries together we have navigated many many different situations some of them fascinating some of them really difficult. And it's like a new day in our life is something that I describe as something unique.

And I have that feeling with them. Never get bored. I can be sitting there five hours, ten hours, go anywhere in the world and enjoy and have fun and laugh. And that's what I like about her. the world and enjoy and have fun and laugh. That's what I like about her. By the sounds of it, were you becoming, if you like, the typical footballer where the world was a little bit small and Lorena opened it up for you?

Was that what happened in a way? Yeah, well, part of the Basque culture as well, we are pretty close to start with and it's not easy to get in there we have very fixed ideas and certain ways of doing things and super discipline and super structure and and in nature she's argentinian obviously they moved to san sebastian where she was two years old but that different culture that different way of thinking as well is something that I think has complement me in a really powerful way and and yeah it changed my life in a way it's only logical that Lorena is now a successful life coach that that can share

that knowledge that you acquire through experiences through different countries through meeting people with others. And it's going really well for Lorena. Yes, and she has this ability. She always had it. Now she's putting it in practice, you know, in a business model and with a very clear purpose to help people. She's gone through a lot, a lot of experiences,

as I said said in different countries she's seen a lot and and especially in our in our profession in our industry that we always talk about the center or the protagonist which is the player or the coach or the manager or whoever it is involved in that role but what about the person that is next to that one? And without that, there is not enough foundations and there is not enough strength for that to be consistent. So look around and then you will understand a lot of things. And that's a lesson for me as well when we have to hire staff or I looked at the people that are working alongside us

or when I have to pick a player and sign a new player is is look around because there are a lot of answers there and um and a lot of the questions that you have of how things are going to work in the future together they're going to be there and that's something very important I think you said already Lorena was born in Argentina but after two years came to to Spain and when I asked you for a trip you should you suggested one that you've done with your wife to Argentina why was that well as you said I have three very important Argentinian friends the first one was Mauricio then it was Gabi Heinze and the third one in Glasgow was Claudio Canigia Claudio Canigia is in the second I think most important player in the history

of Argentina probably after Maradona the best friend of Maradona he was my roommate for two years and I learned about he explained me all the things that you don't have to do in football and all the things that are going to help you in football and he was a very inspiring person

for me as well. So I had that background, I had that curiosity again again, the Argentinian culture, you know. And one of the first trips that we had together, it was to Argentina. And as I said, vast country, very disciplined, very planned. Everything is on time. We went to Argentina. It was going to a safari. Very wild.

No timings. Family all over the place. Everybody safari, very wild. No timings, family all over the place. Everybody is super open, super welcome. They treat you like they know you for years. It was fascinating. It was like, I really like that, you know. And one day we have kids, I wanted to have a piece of that for sure because I think that's going to really help them. They were a different

age they live with different rules um and i loved it and i came and i always felt really connected with argentinian people i don't know why and then i understood there is something here that really complements the way we've been educated and raised as well so it doesn't go against actually it can be very powerful to get those pieces together and yeah then she did it with her grandma her grandma was the base of the family the leader of the family everything it was around her house her tables and and yeah i think we we took that legacy and and then it's a lot of the things that we used to do then and we do them at home as well. All the good stories have got a conflict or obstacles to beat. In your case, if I was looking for obstacles, it would be maybe your time at Real Sociedad and maybe the national side.

Is that two things that, when you think about it, hurt a little bit? Yes, but I think it was part of the journey. It was a really difficult decision for me. So I'm in Glasgow, and when I was about to finish the second season, I was clear that I needed to leave. You know, I needed a new challenge. I wanted to come to the Premier League or go somewhere else. It was great, but I think it was enough.

I think that a phase was done. And then I get the news that my parents are getting divorced. So one of the trips, I go to San Sebastian, see my dad, I said, OK, we're getting divorced. And I felt so guilty. I didn't know if that was because of me and trying to pursue my dream and go to Barcelona and then to Paris and then to Glasgow together. How this has affected them or affected my sister in a negative way.

And I feel very responsible for that. So a month later, Raso said, I knocked on the door and says, OK, we want you. And I never felt it in the sporting side, to be fair, that it was the right call. But I had a duty and I wanted to recognize my parents and my family again. And I think this is the best opportunity to do that. We go there and it has to happen.

We've always been so close. I wasn't mature enough to understand the dynamics of a relationship so I'm gonna try that and it was a disaster it never worked in that sense I never felt connected in any moment I never earned the right or the trust of the manager I already had a history with that manager because I didn't go to Atleti Bilbao, and I did decide to go to Barcelona. He was really upset already with that. Anyway, it was great

because I went straight to the floor. I get... You felt stepped on. Stepped on. I was hugely disappointed. I disappointed all my family. They were so happy to have me there. And now my cousin or my uncle is coming.

And from my grandparents, oh, I'm going to go and watch you play. And it didn't work. And I was sitting on the bench there every day and training. What am I doing here? So I said, I need to leave. And she cannot give up. And I said, no, no, it's not about, it's been a great lesson. But this is not for me. It's not need to leave. And she cannot give up. And I said, no, no, this is not about it. This has been a great lesson, but this is not for me.

It's not going to work. And I was so clear. And at that moment, Everton came in, and I did the backs two hours. Gone. I remember in your time there that you became very clearly and very soon a leader and had a close relationship with

David Moyes do you feel that you had already gained enough experience to be able to talk to the manager and if he opened the doors for you to talk to him and you you felt confident you had answers the thing with David he was very similar to Luis Fernandez so David calls me again Scottish manager he was very close to Aguilar because they knew each other from Glasgow he knew what I did in Glasgow and said

Miquel you come in the style will be different but it will suit you and I think you will be a great fit here and I went there first day you are there

in that stadium presentation it feels good you know and sometimes you don't understand why it feels good you get in the race when you open the door people are looking at you you see the body language faces it feels good it's right where you connect with the team you connect with the players you connect with the staff you connect with the supporters and it flows and that feeling is needed you feel confident you feel excited every morning to get

off your bed and and go to training and yeah we had some unbelievable years together there and again a great part of the journey we talked about Glasgow Liverpool what a city that is as well and the people of Liverpool football cities and Glasgow is an amazing football city Liverpool as well because the rivalry and the history that is that is there and that feeling that you're always trying to catch up and we got really close to them as well in that period an amazing group of player great manager and yeah I loves it every minute you go to London already as a leader captain and I can't remember who told me the first time you walk into the changing room of Arsenal in the first game,

halftime I think it was, and it was all very quiet. And you aimed to change that, no? Was that how it happened? Yeah, again, I was shocked. You know, I was coming from a very different changing room. It was a lot going on. It was the start of the season before we joined.

I think I had three players in the last hour of the transfer window with Metis, Aker, Ben Aoun and myself. We go there and we beat 8-2 at Old Trafford. That was the next game. We go there, halftime, it was Nel, Nel, Swansea, and yeah, it was a church. I said, guys, what's happening here? You know, and...

Is that what you said? Yeah. And I started to talk, and I started to get them, everybody connected, and come on, let's do this, guys. And I was so excited, you know it's Arsenal Football Club, it was a dream for me I admire Arsenal so much and what they did, the way of

playing what the club transmitted already was my dream, if I had to pick a club it was Arsenal for sure in England, so I was like I'm going to do everything, I'm going to break every wall here, we have to make this happen and and slowly we started to build something again when he got to the end of of

your career as a footballer I think Pep Guardiola was trying already to convince you before you even were prepared mentally to stop being a player trying to convince you to be part of his coaching staff what what was that relationship? How was it built? Were you speaking a lot about the Premier League? Was he interested about it? How did it work? A few things happened just before I made that decision to stop,

and he was quite persuasive about us working together. We had a really close connection on Lorenzo Buenaventura. He's a great friend of mine, but as well is someone that was really helpful in my career when when I have big injuries as well and thanks to him I continue to play football and there was coming to a stage that I was feeling much more interested on on the coaching side and the playing side again and I was just being honest with myself and listening to what I was doing and and how I was preparing and I said I think it's better to leave it when I decide so I decided to do it and to do it here at Arsenal and I was clear in the next move what I'm going to do so

and Pep gave me the opportunity to join the staff and he had a dream to do what he did in Barcelona, bring him to the Premier League, when we knew that everybody was going to be, you cannot do that there. It's impossible. They are very physical. There's a history there. You're not going to change it.

And that was Pep's dream. And we were there to support that dream and help him to make it happen. I don't know if you remember, but in two occasions you told me, I'm ready, I'm ready. One was when you started your coaching career thinking, I'm ready, I can coach.

I know what's needed, I can do it, before you even started. And then when you had been assistant to Pep for a while, it's like, I'm ready, I can just take a team now. I can be the number one. Where did all these layers of knowledge came from is all these experiences but you thought about becoming all that as well looking it back now you can say that and then you're not prepared you're not that's the reality I don't think so so I don't know if I was prepared to be the assistant coach of Pep Guardiola, but I haven't coached anybody.

I just did my licenses three years before I was coaching some of the kids here at the club. But I have such a passion and love for the game and capacity to learn fast and be curious and make a step forward if I need to and make a mistake and retrieve it and try and go again. And I was surrounded by amazing people and they made that trust. And slowly you start to feel it more. And Pep was amazing because he gave me so much space.

Okay, you want to do that? Try that. You want to do this idea? Do it. But I was very clear where the line was, you know, and I was very honest with him as well. I said, Pep, my aim is one day i want really want to do this and he knew so this was going to happen i said if one day happens you think some other stability with somebody else you have to do that

you know but it worked so good you know we had unbelievable chemistry and not only at the football side people would talk about tactical side. It was on the human level. Just looked at him and just laughed and connected. And the eye contact, the meaning on that eye contact was clear of what we had to do or what we were thinking in that moment. And we were very lucky. We had some great staff there, very close relationship, very united group and it was fascinating to be part of something new a new era in English football

and how you build that and so grateful for that People say that you are, and Pep Guardiola as well peoples of Johan Cruyff and they think it's mostly about the tactics or how you play and having read a lot about what you do and what Johan Cruyff or Pep Guardiola have written about it as well, I come out with a sentence that's played

where you are about. You're of the school of why not? Let's do this. Why not? But it's never been done. Let's go this way. You all think that same way, don't you? You are vanguard, the vanguard of football.

Did you feel you were doing that? Well, I think, first of all, you have to reflect very much really what you want to do. And when you get to that conclusion, and this is not poetry or ideology or because you want to impress somebody, it's because you really feel it, is that you have to wait.

You have to find a way to do it. And you have to find the people that are going to help you to do it. Because by yourself, you're not going to do it. And once you do that, you have to be determined. And you have to start the journey. And that journey, maybe you have to go a little bit left or right or up or down.

Fine. But you have to get there. I think you have to be very brave because if you don't really feel it and if you don't do what you really feel, how the hell are you going to transmit it? You have 19, 20 different nationalities in that dressing room, plus the staff.

If they see a break there and doubt there, it's not going to come across it in the way that has to come to to make it happen and i think when you make that decision and then to be a coach or a manager i think we deserve as well the opportunity to do what we love you know we're gonna get a lot of criticism and we're gonna get a lot of things wrong and they're going to judge a lot of things, but at least I'm going to have the pleasure to do it in the way that I think is the best for the team and for the club.

And if you do that, it might work, it might not work, but at least that's genuine and it is unique of you. You get a clear conscience of what you prepared, your experiences, you put it in practice, it's your way of doing it. As you say, if it works, it works, if it doesn't, it doesn't, but you make the step of going into Arsenal.

And at that point you were prepared, stroke not prepared, of doing the things that you started doing. But there's one story that in my eyes explains what you're trying to do from the beginning and it's the olive tree planted in front of your office, is it? Tell us a bit about it because you come into a club that required roots and ideas, but strength, direction, a lot of that, no? Well, my first managerial opportunity comes December, January.

So if I have to pick one moment, obviously it's not that. I haven't coached anybody at a senior or youth level as a head coach or manager. And then you get opportunities straight away to go to Arsenal Football Club, which is in a moment that is very complicated, very divided. The energy is difficult to manage, problems with ownership, problems with supporters, not a real clear identity of how the team wants to build the squad or wants to play the game. And results are not going your way.

And I'm hearing a lot of things. I left three and a half years before that and I knew what was happening. So I said, listen, this is not about or the quality of the player or who is going to play better as a winger or that system or that formation or that training methodology.

The issue is much deeper than that. So the issue is in our roots. So I get everybody together in one room one day at colony and and i put the whole room down it was all a mess i said this is what i hear and this is the perception of you guys from the outside so if you want me to help you you need to put this together and then we're gonna start to work we're going to try to to have fun and enjoy together so you have two minutes if that's a day i'm on board i'm ready to try to help you

with with the staff and we're going to try to change that so they did it so that was the starting point so then i said okay this is the tree forget about what is up here we have to feed every single day what is up there and slowly you know we have the the right level of passion and commitment if we build certain excitement within you to come every single day to contribute um in your own way and to be a little bit better every day we're gonna start to tweak certain things here other things here other things here and hopefully something is gonna start to to build in order to do that we need our people so we need to convince them that you are that committed and you are that willing

to take this club to a very different place so that was just a picture so a year later and after a lot of changes and a lot of research that I did within the club to understand really what was happening, I planted the tree and said, this is my gift. Now you have to look after it. Now it's a living thing. It cannot die. That tree is the same amount of years at our football club, over 130 years. It's going to be there every single day.

You have to look at it. And you are all responsible. If someone poisons that tree, he's out out or i'm out or that person is out and that was a deal how's the tree doing very good really healthy growing and is another three years older so he's in a good place when i asked you for a song there's a song that's related to the club as well. Yeah, it's the song Angel from Louis Danforth. And I think we can call it our anthem. It's something that I always felt that we were missing. And it's a moment before the most important moment of the week, which is the kickoff time that our souls get together.

And we look at each other and we are connected by expressing our emotion and singing a song that is related to our football club and our team and in particular to Islington and the area where our stadium is based. And we found that song. He is a massive Arsenal fan. He was totally engaged to that.

We did it in a beautiful way and I think that added another dimension and another deepness to the feeling and connection

to the club and obviously that helped to change the atmosphere of the stadium and that helped the team to feel

more confident, more excited, more determined to play. It created some fear in the opponent. So there's a lot of consequence to that. So that's why today I have to pick that one. Some of the things that you mentioned were picked through your experience,

intuition, which really is experience as well, and through watching other sports. You watch in rugby the body language before a game, for instance, or you look at the NFL and look at what the players that are away from the ball are doing to influence you or at least to learn from it. You do that on purpose. You look around looking for answers. For sure.

Collective, individual sports. I've been really connected with tennis as well, and I know a lot of tennis coaches and tennis players and how they train the methods what is significant for them to win a football or a tennis match or a football match and sometimes it's very different to the priorities that we put and on a straight away we go to the tactic boards and I love the tactic boards but a lot of answers are not in the tactic boards, they're somewhere else especially to win consistently and

I've been very curious of that, I have a coaching staff and staff that are very curious as well and it's part of our culture to look at other sports a lot of people, other industries other people that have been able to do fascinating things and it can be in lower leagues it doesn't

have to be because these are the ones that have a lot of time more merits with the resources that they have and that's something that it gives me a life and it gives me more purpose every single day and and engages me uh and if you ask me about a book i'm not going to tell you a book because maybe it's a story or it's a podcast or it's a conversation and that's really what keeps my fire and my candle always there, always giving

light, which is, okay what is next? How can we do that better? And what is that little room here? And that's what excites me. I feel really privileged to be here the day after you play Manchester United on the last week of the season

when you could win the league. How do you feel? How do you prepare for a week like this? What are you going to do different, if anything? We've been preparing for this for years, I think. You want to prepare for this today or tomorrow or Friday, it's not going to work. We've been preparing for this

for many months and a lot of people are contributing so much to be living these kind of things right now. And we have to do it like we've always done it, in a really determined way,

understanding why it has taken us all the way to here and making sure that we are so convinced that we are ready to make the next step. And with that belief, I think anything can happen. With or without the title, you're doing history, you're changing the dynamic of the club. And also, for somebody who's been away from home for so long,

you've been recognised by the King of Spain. This week, the ambassador of Spain is giving you the order of Isabel the Catholic, which is very rare that anybody gets it, which again, it's that recognition of the work you've done abroad, but the fact that you remember the home, I suppose you're very proud of that.

Yes, very proud. I was very surprised when I heard the noise, and they contacted me to give me that recognition, and it's a huge honour. As you can imagine, my family are extremely proud. Mum and dad are coming? Everybody's coming? Yes, they are coming? Everybody's coming? Yeah, they are coming.

And they should be proud because I think there is no recognition for me. There is recognition for the people around me that has inspired me, has supported me all these years. It's over 20 years now in this country. Doing different things, going through different stages and with different people. And they are going to be there and it's going to be a huge honour. And when all that finishes and this week finishes, whatever happens, the place where you will hide or where you will recharge your batteries will be Palma, you told me. That is the place where you go next.

Yes, and the story with Palma is obviously being so many years away from home and in this country. One thing that we cannot change for sure is the weather. And Lorena and I, sometimes when

we're in Liverpool, we need to escape and we need to get away for a day or two and connect again with our culture and with the ocean and with the sun. And we decided to buy a place in Mallorca. And the story started there, over 17 years ago. We bought a place and we started to build some relationships and friends and connections there. Then we had our first son in Mallorca. Then my sister moved to Mallorca.

Then my sister got engaged in Mallorca. Then we had another son. Then we got married. Then we had the third son. Now my mom has got a place there. So it feels like the place to enjoy is the family gathering place as well, because they all want to come to Mallorca. There's always access to the airport in Mallorca.

And we've been received and treated in the island in an amazing way. And we loved it. And just to kind of go full circle, I asked you for a walk, and the walk would take place in Donosti, in the beach. And it'd be you and Lorena walking around? It would be and the last one we did it was with the kids and it was a Sunday and proud dads working with his kids and explaining your dad used to play there

and look how fascinating this is look at this atmosphere this is genuine this doesn't happen anywhere else and I have to pick that moment

because yeah maybe it feels old a little bit I'm getting old but yeah when you're a child, you have lived some of the best moments there in your city

and having the chance to work with your family through that and for them to recognise it and making their own, it's really fulfilling. Well, I would say what a beautiful way of finishing this great conversation. Thank you very much, Mikkel. Thanks to you. Thank you very much, Michael. Thanks to you. Thank you.

He's been making headlines around the world since he was just a teenager. When I saw him the first time play, I said, we have Perlier here. From the suburbs of Paris to winning Ligue 1 with Monaco. Returning to his boyhood club as the most expensive teenager of all time. Paris Saint-Germain have signed Kylian Mbappé. To winning the World Cup and becoming one of the biggest names in global sports. Mbappé. Mbappé.

Kylian Mbappé. This is Sporting Giants. Kylian Mbappé. Listen on BBC Sounds.