Anders Limpar: Mikel Arteta's Arsenal is a Premier League Powerhouse

Anders Limpar has no doubts. In his eyes, Mikel Arteta is already at the summit – and walking away from Arsenal now would make no sense at all.

The former Arsenal winger, speaking to SveaCasino, painted a picture of a club that has finally grown back into the powerhouse he once knew, only now with the financial and sporting muscle to match any side in Europe.

“Why would Mikel Arteta ever leave Arsenal when they are able to sign the best players in the world for him?” Limpar said. “They are the best or second best team in Europe. Everybody wants to come and play for Arsenal now. We are a massive club nowadays.”

That is the core of his argument. Arteta, in Limpar’s view, already has what managers at Barcelona or Manchester City are supposed to dream about: a structure built around him, a squad stacked with elite talent, and a club whose status is rising with every window.

To Limpar, Arsenal are no longer simply contenders. They are the destination.

“To win the Premier League and go so deep into all four competitions, everyone wants to play for a club that could win the quadruple, and look at the players he already has!” he continued. “They are all very good players. If you’re only a good player, you’re not going to fit in at Arsenal. Go and play for Brighton or Fulham or whoever.”

It is a brutal line, but it underlines the standards he believes now define the club. The days of Arsenal being a stepping stone or a soft touch, in his mind, are gone. This is a place for the very best – or not at all.

Limpar insists that even the game’s supposed super-clubs cannot offer Arteta a better platform than the one he currently commands in north London.

“Arteta won’t find a better set up at Barcelona or Manchester City than what he already has at Arsenal, and they’re still signing him even more, even better players.”

Yet beneath the praise lies a warning. Building a squad full of stars is one thing. Managing it is something entirely different.

For Limpar, this is where the real work begins.

“To have a world class team, you need ten world class outfield players, but you also need to have more than ten world class players who are on the bench or who don’t even play,” he explained. “This is the hardest job for a manager. It was hard for the likes of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp. It will be hard for Mikel Arteta too to keep his squad happy. That’s the hardest thing. Arteta’s real job only starts now. He has to be a master psychologist if he is to keep everyone engaged under his umbrella.”

The challenge is not tactical. It is emotional. It is about ego, frustration, and ambition simmering beneath the surface of a winning team.

Limpar has seen enough of elite dressing rooms to know what happens when players feel overlooked. The title race and the pursuit of trophies may dominate the headlines, but the real tension often lives on the bench.

“It’s a tough business to be a manager at a top club, I can tell you that,” he said. “But this has been Mikel Arteta’s dream, to have the ten best players available every game, and there will be injuries, red cards and changes in form. If you look at the bench at those moments and the players are still not happy, it doesn’t matter who you are.”

In those moments, the smiles vanish. The cameras find the substitutes’ faces. Every reaction is scrutinised. That is where, Limpar argues, the psychology of the job takes over.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s awkward coming into games like that. The players need to channel it. Come on thinking ‘I am going to run for that mother f***er and show him’ – that’s where the psychology of football comes in when you’re a danger. He’s in a dangerous position if he gets it wrong.”

So Limpar’s message is clear. Arsenal, as a club, are where Arteta should be. The infrastructure, the squad, the ambition – all of it, he believes, is already at a level that rivals any giant in Europe.

But the very strength of that position brings its own risk. Arteta has the tools. Now he has to prove he can keep every one of them sharp without cutting himself in the process.