The 33-year-old central midfielder has made more than 100 Premier League appearances for the Londoners but been limited to just eight in 2015/16, with speculation suggesting he could hang up his boots at the end of the season.
He’s very intelligent, he knows how to play football, he’s got very clear ideas and I speak with him a lot about it. Even though I’m a full-back and he’s a midfielder, he’s always got words of advice for me, so I think he would make a good [manager]
A coaching role for the Spaniard could be on the cards, either at the Emirates Stadium or possibly alongside fellow countryman Pep Guardiola when he takes over at Manchester City in July.
And Bellerin is confident that the former Rangers, Real Sociedad and Everton pass master would be a success on the sidelines, having labelled him the best potential manager among the current Arsenal first-team squad.
“He’s very intelligent, he knows how to play football, he’s got very clear ideas and I speak with him a lot about it," Bellerin says as part of an exclusive interview which accompanies the April 2016 issue of FourFourTwo magazine.
“Even though I’m a full-back and he’s a midfielder, he’s always got words of advice for me, so I think he would make a good [manager].”
Bellerin also considers Arteta to be the bossiest player in the squad, something which comes with the territory of being the Gunners’ club captain.
“He’s the captain so he’s got the right to be [the bossiest],” says Bellerin. “But he always does it with a positive mindset, so he’ll never try and boss you in a bad way. It’s a characteristic that every captain has to have.”
Read the full interview with Bellerin in the April 2016 issue of FourFourTwo, available in print, on iPad and iPhone. Want to watch more exclusive interviews with Bellerin, plus our other cover stars Delle Alli, Dimitri Payet and Riyad Mahrez? Of course you do! Subscribe to FourFourTwo’s YouTube channel to see them, plus our library of Performance videos on how to train, think and play like a pro.
Photography: Shamil Tanna
