Arteta said: "I'm excited, grateful and really, really happy today. We want to take the club to the next level and to really compete with the top teams"; Eidevall said: "It's great, it allows me to continue to work for a club that I love so much and be around people I really, really like"
Friday 6 May 2022 21:40, UK
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has signed a new contract until 2025 while Women's team boss Jonas Eidevall will stay until the end of the 23/24 campaign.
Arteta, appointed in 2019, has led Arsenal into fourth with four games remaining as they bid to secure a Champions League place for the first time since 2017.
"We want to take the club to the next level and to compete really with the top teams," he said upon signing his new deal.
"In order to do that, we have to be playing in the Champions League. We have to be able to evolve the team, improve our players, improve all departments, generate even more connection with our fans, improve the atmosphere at the Emirates, be able to recruit top, top talent and the best people for this club to drive this project to that level."
Arteta won his first piece of silverware in 2020 as Arsenal beat Chelsea 2-1 in the FA Cup final before clinching the FA Community Shield with victory on penalties over Liverpool.
The 40-year-old confirmed his vision still aligns with the club's owners, adding: "I'm excited, grateful and really, really happy today.
"When I spoke to Josh he could see the club at the same point and he wanted to take the club the way I wanted to do it. So everything that he's said, and that Stan has said when I've been together with both of them, they've always delivered."
Eidevall has also signed a new deal after an impressive first season in London, in which he has taken the Women's Super League title challenge all the way to the final weekend.
The 39-year-old joined from Swedish side Rosengard last summer and is set to stay with the Gunners for another two years.
He said: "It's great, it allows me to continue to work for a club that I love so much and be around people that I really, really like, and to be able to achieve things together, so I'm really looking forward to that."
Sky Sports' Nick Wright:
Arsenal are facing a defining period in the top-four race but they will head into it knowing their long-term future lies with Mikel Arteta regardless of what happens over the next fortnight.
The timing of the announcement is a huge show of faith from the club's hierarchy which reflects their confidence in the Spaniard's leadership and rewards two and a half years of steady progress.
The circumstances have not been easy. Arteta inherited a side sitting 11th in the Premier League. He has had to completely overhaul the squad, making unpopular decisions along the way, most recently when he allowed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to leave in January.
But the fruits of his work can be seen on and off the pitch. He has moulded a young, dynamic and hungry side with enormous potential for further improvement, all while transforming the culture within the club and fostering a spirit of togetherness.
That togetherness extends to the Emirates Stadium, where fans and players have formed what he describes as a "special" connection, ensuring the sense of drift that had set in across the previous decade has been replaced by renewed optimism.
There have been challenging periods on the pitch but the underlying numbers are trending in the right direction and Arsenal's Premier League points totals have improved year on year under his watch.
Their rise up the table this season could now take them into the Champions League ahead of schedule. Even if it doesn't, though, Arsenal will remain confident they are back on track and it is easy to see why.
In last week's episode of the Essential Football Podcast, Sky Sports features writer Nick Wright sat down with Mikel Arteta for an exclusive interview at Arsenal's London Colney training centre.
The Arsenal boss discussed how his side have adapted after injuries to Kieran Tierney and Thomas Partey, the club's summer transfer plans, why they cannot copy Liverpool's route to the top and how his Arsenal project is developing.
In part two of the podcast, Nick is then joined by Sky Sports senior football journalist Oliver Yew to discuss the interview and all things Arsenal ahead of a pivotal few weeks for the club as they bid to return to the Champions League.
