Arsene Wenger thinks Mikel Arteta has a big future in coaching, but he’ll have to overcome his lack of experience as a head coach at Arsenal.

At this point, it seems only a matter of time until Arsenal announce Mikel Arteta as their new long-term head coach. In fact, at the time of writing this article, I have no idea if Arsenal will confirm it or not before this goes out. So bear with me on that front.

Former Arsenal manager and current FIFA Chief of Global Development Arsene Wenger spoke to the BBC about Arteta’s appointment on Wednesday. He admitted his former player’s inexperience will play a role, but he was mostly positive about it.

“I believe that Mikel Arteta has a great future,” Wenger said. “He has certainly learned a lot in his first position as an assistant coach. After that, as well, he will have to deal with the fact that he has no experience at that level.

“He will have to be surrounded well, have a good environment at the club. I think the most important [thing is], every club, and Arsenal especially, is built on special values. Inside the club, people have to take care of that.

“That is the most important. What makes a club great is first the values of the club. You have to be faithful to that and continue to develop that.”

It’s an important point, and one I’ve made in the last few days about Freddie Ljungberg’s interim spell. We all knew Ljungberg didn’t have experience going into the role. The problem is that Arsenal did nothing to support him.

Per Mertesacker got the part-time task of working as an assistant, despite having no coaching experience himself. That was it.

Arteta needs to have a good team around him and support throughout the club’s internal system. If he does, his inexperience won’t cause so many problems and his ideas could well have the necessary backing to revitalise the club.