Real Madrid presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme explored bringing Mikel Arteta to the club as their new head coach, according to a report.
Football insider Hand of Arsenal reports via Arsenal Roundtable that Enrique Riquelme explored the possibility of bringing Mikel Arteta to Real Madrid, assuming he won the presidential election.
It’s unclear whether Riquelme believed such an attempt might succeed, but it didn’t end up mattering, as Florentino Perez won the election to continue his spell as club president.
Hand of Arsenal adds that Madrid’s interest could have added a complication to Arsenal attempts to tie Arteta down to a new contract, but the Gunners have always felt in control of the situation and confident their manager would choose to stay.
The report also suggests that Arsenal are hoping to finalise the details on a new deal for Arteta soon, with an agreement close on a contract expected to last at least three more years.
It’s not hard to see why the club will be pushing to keep Arteta around, with Arsenal the current Premier League champions.
The Gunners may have lost the Champions League final to Paris Saint-Germain, but making the final was just the second time the club had done so in their history, and it continued Arteta’s progress of reaching a further round of the competition in each successive season.
Arsenal made the quarter-finals in 2023/24, the semi-finals in 2024/25, and the final in 2025/26. The hope is that they can now win the competition in 2026/27.
There’s no doubt that Arteta will be sticking around for next season, given that context and the fact he still has a year left on his current deal.
But as we enter those final 12 months, Arsenal will look to prolong the manager’s stay as soon as possible.
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