Ex-Arsenal star Theo Walcott recalls training ground incident that left Arsene Wenger ‘afraid’ of Mikel Arteta… as he claims the Spaniard was destined for management

Theo Walcott was not surprised when his former Arsenal teammate Mikel Arteta became manager.

Arteta, who has been manager of the Gunners since 2019, was the club’s captain for the last two years of his active career, from 2014 to 2016.

Walcott, who played alongside Arteta during this period, revealed this in a recent interview on the Up Front with the Simon Jordan Podcast that the Spaniard behaved like a manager long before he was one.

Walcott recalled a story from the days when legendary manager Arsene Wenger was in charge, telling Jordan how Arteta once delayed a training session by locking his teammates in a dressing room.

Walcott claimed Arteta had ‘such a strong character that even Arsene was afraid of him’.

Arteta pictured next to Theo Walcott (left) in an Arsenal team photo from September 2011

Walcott told the Up Front with Simon Jordan podcast that Wenger used to be ‘scared’ of Arteta

“The turning point for me in the way I saw Mikel Arteta was an experience I had with him as a player at Arsenal,” said Walcott. ‘It was at a time when we didn’t make it into the top four.

‘We had a training session in 30 minutes and he locked all the players in the dressing room like he was the manager.

“He took over the whole room and told us what it was like. At that moment it was like he was the manager, and that was the turning point for me.

‘Then I thought he could become a manager. Arsène Wenger waited for us to come out for training, but we didn’t come out because Mikel stopped training.

‘He was such a strong character that even Arsene was afraid of him.’

Former midfielder Arteta made 150 appearances for Arsenal under Wenger between 2011 and 2016

Arteta has been Arsenal manager since 2019, having led the team in 232 matches

Walcott said of his former teammate Arteta that he ‘thought he could be a manager’

In 397 appearances for Arsenal between 2006 and 2018, Walcott scored 108 goals for the Gunners

After ending his playing career in 2016, Arteta joined Manchester City’s coaching team and served as Pep Guardiola’s assistant until December 2019, when he was given the top job at Arsenal.

After finishing eighth in his first two seasons and fifth in his third, Arteta and Arsenal finished second behind Manchester City in the last two seasons.

Last season they finished just two points behind Pep Guardiola’s team, narrowly missing out on their first title in twenty years.

Arteta does, however, have silverware to his name as Arsenal boss, having recorded one FA Cup win and two FA Community Shield wins.