The core BHL of Mikel Arteta at Arsenal has made the first significant change since the beginning of the 2021/22 season. Gabriel Heinze, a former MU defender, was appointed a new assistant of Arteta, replacing Carlos Cuesta after the Spanish strategist became Parma's coach in Serie A.
Heinze, whom Arteta first met when he was a teenager at PSG in the 2001/02 season, will join the key training team including Albert Stuimeberg, Miguel Molina, Nicolas Jover and Inaki Cana. Earlier, Heinze had gone through 5 coach seats at Godoy Cruz, Argentinos Juniors, Velez Sarsfield and Atlanta United but were not successful.
Now, Heinze has reunited with Arteta, a teammate at PSG more than 20 years ago. Arteta considered Heinze an inspiration, “always by my side, behind me, and always instructed me in everything I have to do in my career, the way I have to understand the game”.
Heinze became a prominent figure of the Premier League after joining MU in June 2004 with a transfer fee of 7 million pounds. The MU homepage describes Heinze as a “personality” and “quickly won the hearts of loyal fans”.
The impact of Heinze was felt immediately, when he scored in his debut against Bolton (drew 2-2) in September 2004, and he ended his first season with the club's “Best Player of the Year”. However, the knee injury in September 2005 made him take a whole season, leading to the appearance of Patrice Evra.
Losing the left -back position, Heinze must leave in August 2007. But even it is not easy. Heinze really wanted to join Liverpool, MU's rival, but Sir Alex Ferguson quickly quell that intention. “I guarantee Liverpool will not get Gabriel Heinze.”
A quarrel took place publicly, when Heinze asserted that he wanted to move to Anfield, and his relationship with the NHM MU community became worse. Finally, after 83 appearances and contributed greatly to the Premier League Championship 2006/07, he joined Real Madrid.
During 2 years at the Bernabeu (2007-2009), Heinze played 60 times and won the La Liga championship in the first season. He is also the Ligue 1 champion with Marseille in the 2009/10 season, this is his third domestic title in another tournament.
After retiring in 2014 at Newell's Old Boys, Heinze turned to coach. Heinze's coaching style is compared to the football philosophy of legendary Marcelo Bielsa, the coach of the current Uruguay. This has made Heinze one of the best young coaches in South America.
Heinze wants his teams to play attacks and still maintain discipline. The player's movement skills and creating triangles in the key positions on the field to create an advantage of military numbers are very important. This is the reason why Atlanta recruited him in December 2020.
But only after the first half of the season, Heinze was fired. The 8 -match -free match of the club has made Atlanta make this decision, even though the weak cause is that Heinze was opposed by the player and breaking the seat. Finally, his management style was not suitable for the MLS, and he returned to Newell's in 2022. In 2023, Heinze completely quit his job.
Now, he has returned to training after 2 years of interruption, although no longer plays a key role, and will be tasked with helping Arsenal win the first Premier League championship since the 2003/04 season. Heinze may fail in South America and MLS, but his charm in Europe can bring great achievements
For Arteta, this is the return of an old friend. For Arsenal, hopefully Heinze's spirit of victory from the days of competition, as well as the competitive nature, can help them win the title next season and beyond.
