My Players Can Call Me Whatever They Are Comfortable With – Arteta

Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta has come out to say that his players calling him by his first name is not disrespectful.

This is coming after Roy Keane blasted Aubameyang for referring to his coach as “Mikel” in a recent interview.

According to Arteta, his players are free to call him what they want and he will never feel offended by it.

He added that he has given them the choice to call him whatever they feel comfortable with and things will stay that way.

Keane had said, “They didn’t show him respect when they called him by his name, Mikel,”

“He’s the manager, the boss, the gaffer. That’s respect. “Not Mikel, he’s not his mate.”

Arteta responded, “I was told that Roy mentioned that,”

“I give them the choice to call me whatever they feel comfortable with. With some of them obviously I shared a dressing room. There are people at the training ground who call me boss or coach. The French guys call me coach. It depends. It’s not an issue for me.

“I don’t feel disrespected. I understand why he is saying that as a player, but the way I feel with them – and I feel so close with them, with some of them I played with – so for me it is not an issue and it is not the way I would feel respected or disrespected.”