StevenDavis 112 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta: Experiencing the toughness of Scottish football with Rangers prepared me for the Premier League.The Spaniard spent two years at Ibrox as a youngster and believes that the physicality of the game north of the border taught him a lot ahead of his move to England in 2005.Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta has revealed that experiencing the physicality of Scottish football while at Rangers prepared him for life in the Premier League.The Spaniard moved to Ibrox aged just 19 from Barcelona having been impressed by the club while on loan at Paris Saint-Germain.While the 29-year-old admitted adapting to the relative roughness of the game in Scotland was difficult, the former Everton man believes that it taught him what was necessary to fit in when he arrived in England.“In my second year at Paris Saint-Germain we played Rangers in the Champions League at Ibrox,” Arteta told Arsenal’s official website.“I was really impressed with the stadium and everything that went with it.“In February that year they came over and said they wanted to sign me. At the time I was only on loan in Paris and Barcelona wouldn't sell me to another Spanish club.“It wasn't easy to find another club like that because they were asking for quite a lot of money for me for my age. So I took the chance to go there.“At that moment, Rangers were a big club, with big players, playing in the Champions League.“But Scottish football was tough, really tough. It was really physical, people got at you and I had to improve on that a lot. I think I did that to get to the level that the Premier League required of me.”Arteta remained at Rangers for two years before spending a single season in his homeland with Real Sociedad.The central midfielder made his debut in English football in 2005 for Everton, going on to make 208 appearances for the Toffees before joining the Gunners in the summer of 2011.http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2896/premier-league/2012/01/11/2841832/arsenal-midfielder-mikel-arteta-experiencing-the-toughness Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthernLights 2,526 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Class player. Still can't believe we made such a loss on him. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Godfather 72,302 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 He certainly was a talented boy at Rangers who scored some great goals (The pass back to Rab Douglas at CP pleased me!). Shame he was only here for 2 years but he was always destined for a better stage to showcase his talents. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZX750 31 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Flattered to deceive at Ibrox I think.Had a Spain top with Arteta 23 on it as well!Nearly 10 years ago Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
marmalade1872 40 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 average Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
1873bear 192 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Held his nerve scoring that penalty against Dunfermline to win us the title I'm glad he's doing well............. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFC55 109,488 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Does he have Altzhimers?It was the UEFA cup we played PSG Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goianegra 4,686 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Awwwwww Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gazza27 15,321 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 averagei thought that aswell Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NessFTW 40 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 i thought that aswell to the both of youIf only we'd held on to him. Sold him when he wasnt even near reaching his best. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RFC55 109,488 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Arteta average. rfc52 beat me too it. Far too quick. He outshone Ronaldinho that night Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thermopylae 15,287 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Probably a good thing that he has come out and said this ... unfortunately I think the best way we have of attracting the better players now is if they use Scottish football as a stepping stone to the EPL (Jelavic etc) Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
demise 3,543 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Good man! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ManchestGer 347 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Did van Bronckhorst not say something similar? Infact I think he said something along the lines that it actually made in go in too tough for tackles and he had to learn to cool it Arteta is a great player, one I loved watching for Rangers and for others since he left! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simon 1,744 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 I thought he was with us for longer than that. I was at the Arsenal v WBA game earlier in the season and he scored, class act. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthernLights 2,526 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Probably a good thing that he has come out and said this ... unfortunately I think the best way we have of attracting the better players now is if they use Scottish football as a stepping stone to the EPL (Jelavic etc)Couldn't agree more. I think that by telling players that a good season could see them in the EPL and by showing them the list of players who HAVE previously played for us we could get far better players than we would normally. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rangers_1993 68 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 a cant belive it was ten year ago we signed him ten years since our last treble Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
loyalistblue 7 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 We could and should have gotten a good few more years out of him, he'd still have gotten his EPL move, and we'd have seen a great player for a few years.. Pitty he fucked off to spain eh. Then everton only valued him at £2m Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplythebest 11,453 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Never paid as much for a player since Arteta have we? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
G.E.C. 18,883 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Did he leave us because he was homesick?If so then he changed his tone quickly six months later when going to Everton. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
albluenose1990 29 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 a cant belive it was ten year ago we signed him ten years since our last treble9 years since last treble. Next season will be 10 years if we fail to do it, but you never know! Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sasa5stefan1lamont 7 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 Will always remember Mikel's last goal for rangers. an absolute peach of a free kick against motherwell at ibrox. the days of signing young players of this quality are well and truly over. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turnberry18 3,204 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 I am really sorry but I can't see me ever appreciating a player who regards Rangers as a stepping stone; call me irrational, but I'm a fan. For me Dado Prso set an important benchmark, as did Michael Mols, and Arthur Numan: Dado fell in love with Rangers sitting on the bench whilst with Monaco; those were the days when Rangers fans actually thought the club was a bit special; now we have the incredible situation of some claiming to empathise with some guy called Scott Allan who chose WBA of all clubs over us. I know these players mentioned above take an active interest in Rangers: they fell in love with Rangers. If Rangers doesn't get under the skin of a player then I won't regard him as highly as those three I mentioned. For me Rangers are bigger than any club he(Arteta) has joined subsequently. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sasa5stefan1lamont 7 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 I am really sorry but I can't see me ever appreciating a player who regards Rangers as a stepping stone; call me irrational, but I'm a fan. For me Dado Prso set an important benchmark, as did Michael Mols, and Arthur Numan: Dado fell in love with Rangers sitting on the bench whilst with Monaco; those were the days when Rangers fans actually thought the club was a bit special; now we have the incredible situation of some claiming to empathise with some guy called Scott Allan who chose WBA of all clubs over us. I know these players mentioned above take an active interest in Rangers: they fell in love with Rangers. If Rangers doesn't get under the skin of a player then I won't regard him as highly as those three I mentioned. For me Rangers are bigger than any club he(Arteta) has joined subsequently.I dont believe rangers did enough to get Scott Allan, we were unwilling to pay what Dutd wanted for him and therefore the lad cant be blamed. If we had put in a resonable offer for a guy who is clearly very talented i reckon he would have joined. Obviously the financial situation makes it difficult for us to put in a serious offer. Also i totally agree with what you said about arteta. Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turnberry18 3,204 Posted January 11, 2012 Share Posted January 11, 2012 I dont believe rangers did enough to get Scott Allan, we were unwilling to pay what Dutd wanted for him and therefore the lad cant be blamed. If we had put in a resonable offer for a guy who is clearly very talented i reckon he would have joined. Obviously the financial situation makes it difficult for us to put in a serious offer. Also i totally agree with what you said about arteta. I don't know the full ins and outs of Scott Allan's deal; what disturbs me is Rangers fans saying they would play for WBA rather than Rangers. If Craig Whyte can do anything, could he restore some passion in Rangers among our fans? Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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