Mikel Arteta has credited David Moyes with changing his career before Arsenal host Everton, after Moyes earlier described the Arsenal manager as “brilliant” and defended the league leaders’ style.
Mikel Arteta has paid a warm tribute to David Moyes before Arsenal’s meeting with Everton, saying the Scot “changed my career” after bringing him to Goodison Park in 2005. The Arsenal manager was asked about Moyes in Friday’s pre-match press conference and responded with unusual force, describing his former Everton boss as one of the greatest managers the Premier League has had. The remarks came only hours after Moyes had publicly defended Arsenal’s style and praised Arteta’s work in north London.
Arteta’s gratitude to Moyes
Arteta made clear that his relationship with Moyes goes well beyond the usual pre-match respect between rival managers. “I have huge memories and a massive gratitude because he changed my career basically,” Arteta said. He explained that, after he decided to go back to Spain, Moyes brought him to Everton and “really changed my career, me as a player as well”. Arteta added that the two had shared “a lot of incredible things” together, while also pointing to the wider Everton staff as people he still remembers fondly.
He then went further when asked about Moyes’ longevity in management. Arteta called it “just incredible” and said that is why he sees him as “one of the greatest English managers or the manager the Premier League has ever had”. He praised Moyes’ consistency across different clubs and contexts, and said people “have to appreciate it because it’s very rare”. Arteta’s answer was notable not only for its warmth, but for the scale of the praise
Moyes had already returned the compliment
Earlier on Friday, Moyes had offered strong backing of his own. Speaking before Everton’s trip to the Emirates, he described Arteta as a “brilliant manager” and pushed back against recent criticism of Arsenal’s physical style and set-piece threat. Moyes said there was nothing wrong with Arsenal being a “strong, physical side” and argued football would be “boring” if every team tried to play the same way.
Fabian Hurzeler had already softened his own complaints about Arsenal’s game management after Brighton’s recent defeat, and Moyes’ comments went a step further by defending the league leaders outright. For Arteta, then, Friday’s tribute was partly personal and partly a response to a manager who had just publicly backed him.
An Everton connection that still runs deep
The personal thread between the two is not difficult to trace. Moyes signed Arteta for Everton in 2005, first on loan and then permanently, and the Spaniard spent the rest of his playing career in England after that move. Moyes effectively brought Arteta into the Premier League, and Arteta’s own account on Friday made clear how central he still considers that moment in his career.
All of that gives Saturday’s game an added edge beyond the table and the title race. Arteta’s focus in the press conference was still on the task in front of Arsenal, but his words on Moyes stood out. They were not routine compliments before facing a former club. They were the remarks of a manager who still sees Everton’s current boss as one of the defining figures in his own football life.