Mikel Arteta has suggested that a former Arsenal player was actually faster than Ronaldinho.
The Spaniard has made a phenomenal name for himself as a manager. He is among the best in the world right now, and Arsenal really are lucky to have him.
However, many people forget how good Arteta was as a player. Yes, he wasn’t flashy and full of tricks like the popular stars around him, but he was technically brilliant and always reliable.
Arteta shared the dressing room with some incredible players during his time. Ronaldinho was one of them, but he has now hinted that a former Arsenal player was even faster than him.
Mikel Arteta names the former Arsenal player who was faster than Ronaldinho
Mikel Arteta rubbed shoulders with some superstars back in the day.
The Arsenal boss grew up with Xabi Alonso and was his teammate at Real Sociedad. He then met Andreas Iniesta and Xavi in Barcelona’s academy and knew them well.
Arteta then moved to France and joined Paris Saint-Germain on loan. He was teammates with incredible players like Ronaldinho, Jay-Jay Okocha, Gabriel Heinze and even Mauricio Pochettino.
In a video with Goal, Arteta was made to look back on the strengths of some of his old PSG teammates that made them incredibly successful footballers.
When asked about the best right foot, the Arsenal boss named Ronaldinho. He picked the Brazilian for strength and skills as well.
However, when it came to speed, the Spaniard only had one name on his mind – not Ronaldinho but former Arsenal striker Nicolas Anelka, who was his teammate at Paris Saint-Germain.
Anelka was terrifyingly fast. He was unstoppable on his day and it was such a shame that he wanted to leave Arsenal after just two years at the club.
Arsene Wenger‘s side accepted a £22.3 million offer from Real Madrid to let him go in the summer of 1999 (The Sun), and that move turned out to be a disaster for the Frenchman, who was sold to PSG just two years later.
What Ian Wright said about Nicolas Anelka and Thierry Henry is very interesting
Arsenal have had a number of French players play for them over the years.
Players like Patrick Vieira, Emmanuel Petit and Robert Pires all had a tremendous impact on Arsene Wenger’s side back in the day, but the best French player to play for the Gunners has to be Thierry Henry.
He was absolutely unbelievable, wasn’t he?
However, Ian Wright claimed last year that as a raw young talent, Nicolas Anelka was even better than Henry back in the day.
When Rio Ferdinand asked Wright who was better between Anelka and Henry, the legendary Englishman said: “Anelka! Thierry would probably say that himself.
“If we’re talking about raw at that age, once I saw Anelka, I knew it was over!”