WATCH: Gary Neville’s Comments On Mikel Arteta Angers Arsenal Fans; Here Is How They React

Gary Neville has enraged some Arsenal supporters by hinting that Mikel Arteta may leave the club this summer if Arsenal finish in the top four of the Premier League

Arteta, who has been in command at the Emirates Stadium since December 2019 after taking over from Unai Emery, has seen Arsenal’s fortunes improve in recent months.

Even though the Spaniard has faced criticism at times throughout his time as Arsenal’s head coach, his team has won 10 of their previous 13 league games. They are presently sitting above both Tottenham and Manchester United in the Premier League standings.

A superb core of players has been formed by Arteta in the form of Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Martin Odegaard, and Emile Smith Rowe, to name a few. These players are regularly putting in the effort week in and week out.

Arsenal supporters haven’t been this upbeat about their club in a long time. But Neville put a wrench in the works on the latest episode of The Overlap Live by claiming that Arteta won’t be able to do much better than guide Arsenal to a fourth-place finish this season.

What did Gary Neville have to say about Mikel Arteta and his time at the Emirates?

“I genuinely like Mikel Arteta, and I believe he’s a fantastic coach. I believe the squad is wonderful in terms of the young players that they have,” Neville addressed a packed crowd of supporters alongside Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane. 

“In the case of a club, it’s fascinating to see how things turn out when you depress the ambition and have a large period of failure because you then become really satisfied with the fourth position. When it comes to Manchester United, I found myself saying that. The reason for this, though, is a lack of ambition.

I believe Mikel Arteta is an excellent operator. My main fear is that Arsenal finishes fourth this season – which, to be honest, I think is 50/50. I still believe they have a long way to go in that race. But if they finish fourth, that’s about as good as it gets in terms of finishing fourth this season.

With Pep [Guardiola], Jurgen Klopp, Manchester United, and Chelsea, where does Arsenal fit into all of this? They have no intention of competing.

Mikel Arteta is an excellent coach. I like the fact that we are seeing a team that he is getting the most out of. I can see precisely how he wants to play, and I think we can all see that as well. In the end [he] would probably say, ‘well, that’s the best I can accomplish there. I’m leaving now and obtaining my next job if he thought about it too much,'” Neville said.

Carragher, on the other hand, feels Arsenal will be able to go on provided they make the correct acquisitions.

He continued: “The next two or three signings for Arsenal must be similar to what Alisson and [Virgil] van Dijk was for Liverpool, in the sense that they help you make that jump to compete with Liverpool, Manchester City, and Chelsea. Alisson and [Virgil] van Dijk were two of the most important signings for Liverpool during their time at the club. They are in desperate need of a top-class center-forward who can lift them to the next level.”