Mikel Arteta suggests Arsenal follow Manchester City multi-club model to attract best young stars | OneFootball

English clubs are unable to sign players from overseas until they turn 18

Mikel Arteta believes Arsenal should explore the multi-club model so they can bid to sign the best young talent in the world.

New rules enforced by Brexit have made it harder for Premier League clubs to bolster their academy with talented youngsters.

English sides cannot sign players from overseas until they are 18, when previously there had been an exemption for 16 to 18 years olds in the European Union and European Economic Area.

Clubs have been able to circumvent the post-Brexit rules by making use of a multi-club model and Arteta believes it is something Arsenal should consider in the future.

“Well, that’s something that a lot of clubs have at the moment,” said Arteta.

“So, that restriction in the country has provoked that many other clubs have now, like sister clubs or multi-club systems to be able to do that.

“So, looking ahead in the future it’s something basically to explore because obviously with the actual system it’s very, very difficult.

“Every club is very different in the way that they are set up and the clubs that they have picked are various.

“But in our way, it’s obviously a decision from our ownership and the board to understand what is the best thing for the club in the future.

“My involvement is in the team and the squad. I have full trust in what the club has to do there and they have to decide. If the club wants my opinion then I’m more than happy to give that, but my focus is on the team.”

Mikel Arteta came through Barcelona’s La Masia academy with Andres Iniesta and Xavi

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Arteta is a product of Barcelona’s famous La Masia academy, which uses a unique system where young players move to the club and live alongside their team-mates.

During his time there, Arteta shared a room with the likes of Andres Iniesta, Pepe Reina and Xavi.

The Arsenal boss believes such an environment was beneficial to young players - as demonstrated by Barcelona’s track record of producing talent - and he wishes that Arsenal could do the same.

In England, there are rules around what academies players can join at a young age based upon the distance they are from them and how long it would take to travel there.

“We lived in La Masia,” said Arteta. “To replicate that here is impossible. We cannot do it.

“(La Masia) is the most unique environment I have seen in my life, the most competitive, the most inspiring and the most professional environment at any club or academy that I have seen that replicates a first-team environment at 14 or 15 years old.

“To do that with the capacity to recruit from all over Spain, or all over the world if you wanted at that time, that is very difficult to achieve.

“We were 32 players there and I think 29 of them made it to the highest level. The six that shared a room with me were legends in the football world. That is unheard of. There is something special there, that is not a coincidence. And they have done it for decades now.

“If we could do that, different parts of the country as well…it’s so limited. But that’s a regulation – it might change, it might not.

“We just need to be so good with the actual regulation right now. But it is very different in Europe. That’s the thing that I don’t think is very, very fair.”